Different You
by Yasmin93
Summary: It was just supposed to be a fling, a summer romance. They'd said goodbye and that should have been it. When Juliet starts a new school she bumps into the one person she never would have expected there, but things aren't as simple as they were just days before. Does the person she thought she knew even exist, or was her summer just one big lie? Canon from 7th year onwards.
1. Prologue

As the sun slowly disappeared in the horizon it reflected colours of red and orange in the clear sky, the calm sea and even on the sand under my feet. The light breeze whipped my hair around my face, drawing the salty smell of the water to my nostrils. I scrunched my toes up letting the dry sand explore my feet.

At that precise moment nothing could be more perfect. I had never felt so calm and happy. I was watching a stunning scene pan out in front of me as I sat in the warm sand; the beach really was my favourite place at sunset. Looking next to me, I gazed at the reason for me being so happy.

His hand brushed his dark, windswept hair out of his eyes. Those eyes. The eyes I fell into completely the first time I saw them. Eyes that were so warm and full of emotion that it was hard not to see into his soul every time I gazed into them. My eyes moved down his body, dancing over the defined muscles in his arms as he leant back on his elbows. His t-shirt grazed his hard abs every time the wind blew. A small grin appeared on his lips revealing his perfect, pearly white teeth.

"Out of everything that you could be looking at you choose to stare at me?" His grin grew bigger causing my stomach to erupt with butterflies; just like it did every single time he flashed that grin. Even after spending everyday with him over the summer I couldn't believe he still had this effect over me.

My cheeks felt warm revealing that they were going pink. "I was just committing you to memory." I moved my eyes back onto his sparkling eyes unable to stop myself from blushing more under his gaze.

This was the first man that had ever made me feel special. Sure, I'd had boyfriends before I moved, but none that I had ever fallen for. I had never clicked with anyone the way I did with him. All it took was for one look from him and my heart would go into overdrive. I swear he made me have constant butterflies when I was around him.

He moved closer to me, his arm snaking around my waist to pull me closer to him. Subconsciously I did what had become a natural reaction and relaxed into his side. I couldn't help but take in the way he smelt. Traces of his cologne were still lingering, mixed with the faint smell of cigarettes and leather. My new favourite smell.

As we sat there I couldn't help but think over the most amazing summer we had just spent together. He had managed to completely change my mind about this country. Showing me just how great it can be, when you're with the right person anyway.

I had never expected I'd end up having a summer romance, but here I was right at the end of it. Enjoying our last moments together before we went our separate ways. It was somewhat bittersweet. The perfect end to a perfect relationship and there was nothing either of us could do about it. We both knew this day would come, maybe that's why it had been so great. Knowing something is only temporary made it so much more special.

"Are you ready to leave, Juliet?" He asked, not taking his eyes off my face. It was as though, he too, was trying to make sure he could remember every little detail about me. My heart swelled at the thought.

I nodded to him, a small smile on my face. The sun had completely set now, bringing goodbye closer. It was only a matter of time before we said goodbye one last time.

He got to his feet, holding his hand out to help me up, which I took without a second thought. Electricity pulsed through me from his hand, leaving my hand tingling when we let go of each other. He wrapped his arm over my shoulders and pulled me into him as we made our way back to the bike. It wasn't long before I snaked my arm around his waist as he planted a kiss on my temple.

Neither of us spoke to each other during the walk back. It was a nice silence, a comfortable silence. I couldn't help but think of ways to prolong what was going to come in just a few short hours. My brain fought against my heart, telling me that this is what was always going to happen. Just because we were stupid enough to develop feelings it didn't change anything.

When we got to the motorcycle he quickly jumped on, making space for me to jump on behind him. I wrapped my arms tightly behind his waist, my fingers brushing over his abs as I scrunched his t-shirt in my hands. The scent I had become so accustomed to washing over me.

Much to my dismay the trip that normally took 2 hours only took an hour and a half due to the lack of cars on the roads. The journey went way too quickly and before I knew it we were parked up outside my new house.

He climbed off his bike easily and full of grace before turning around and placing his hands on my hips to lift me off. His thumb brushed my hip as we stayed in that position, me between his motorcycle and his body. Knots tightening in my lower stomach as I gazed up at him, his eyes full of temptation.

Slowly leaning into me his lips brushed mine gently as he pulled me closer to him by my hips. My hands slowly went up to wrap themselves around his neck, pulling him in to kiss me harder. His tongue ran across my bottom lip as though asking for permission to enter. It was at that moment I knew I would lose myself to him, like I did every time he kissed me. There was something about him that made me lose all my inhibitions. My heart crashed against my ribcage so hard and fast I'm surprised he didn't notice. Both our breathing became shallow as our kiss got more fiery and passionate. His hands made their way from my hips slowly to my neck, one tangling in my hair as he closed any gap left between us. A moan slipped out of my lips causing him to smile against them.

Pulling away from me he rested his forehead against mine, the pair of us trying to catch our breath. That big grin on his face. A grin that I couldn't help but return. The pulling at my stomach still there.

"That, I'm going to miss." His voice was low and husky, making it almost impossible for me not to jump him.

"That better not be all you're going to miss." I winked at him.

"You know full well that's not all I'll miss, Jules." His smile was sweet, his loving eyes matching. "I'll miss the way you're hazel eyes sparkle when you talk about something you're passionate about. And the sound of your laugh, as embarrassing as that can be when you snort your drink out your nose."

"Hey!" I slapped him on the shoulder trying and failing to feign annoyance. "Once. That happened once!"

He let out what I could only describe as a bark of laughter. "The way your bright golden hair matches your bright personality perfectly." His fingers moved to brush through my hair. "The way you never shut up, but at the same time you don't reveal anything about yourself, leaving yourself in this fog of mystery."

Upon hearing those words from him I couldn't contain my happiness, the big smile on my face matching his. There was something about hearing them that pulled at my heartstrings, making me want to go back on our deal. Maybe there was some way that we could at least still keep in contact. Wouldn't it be a shame to walk away when there was obviously something between us?

Then the smart part of me snapped me out of it. I couldn't stay, I was a witch and the man in front of me was a nomaj. I had to go to school for the year. Maybe next summer we'd bump into each other again. But if not, it was a short, sweet and perfect relationship where I fell head over heels for the most romantic man I had ever met. And that would be enough when I looked back on it. It had to be.

"And I'm going to miss hearing those sort of words come out of your mouth." I grinned up at him, placing a light kiss on his lips and wrapped my arms around his waist, not wanting to let go. "Do you have to go right away?"

I already knew what his answer would be before he even said it. Just the look on his face was enough to make my heart sink.

"As much as I would love to stay with you longer," His low voice was barely a whisper as he wrapped one arm around my shoulders to hold me against his chest, "I really do need to go now."

His hand gently tilted my chin up just in time for his lips to come crashing down onto mine for one last time. The kiss stayed gentle as his hands came up to cup my face, turning it into the sweetest kiss we'd ever had.

"Thank you." I whisper after I'd pulled away from him. "This really has been the best summer."

His signature grin was on his lips as he nodded at me. "I couldn't agree more." He placed his lips softly on my forehead sending shivers across my body.

I opened my mouth to tell him how I felt but shook the thought out of my head. I wasn't going to ruin the moment so instead I watched him hop onto his motorcycle and send a wink in my direction before he started it up and rode off. Rather than making my way into my house I stayed where I was and watched the back of him quickly disappear out of sight.

I let out a sigh when he was finally out of my sight for the last time. A small smile was on my lips as I thought about the man of my dreams, who had come into my life at the wrong time. But I had hope. Hope that if it was meant to be, it would. Maybe next year when I was finally finished with school.


	2. The Journey

It was nothing like I expected. A train to get to school? Surely there were easier, quicker ways to get there? It would have been much easier on my nerves to just floo in rather than have to sit on a train for the whole day; on my own with nothing but my own thoughts to keep me company.

It didn't matter how much I told myself that I would be fine, and that the school and people were bound to be fine. I just couldn't bring myself believe it.

An uneasiness washed over me the second I stepped foot on the bright, scarlet steam engine.

This was it, the moment I had been dreading. The moment I would be on my own without a single familiar person. Heading to a place that was just as unfamiliar.

Scared didn't even come close. I took a deep breath and made my way towards the back of the train. Flocks of students seemed to be thinning out the further I got. All I wanted was a quiet compartment, maybe with a couple of friendly people who could potentially show me the ropes. That wasn't something I could see happening.

I finally found an empty compartment and froze in the doorway when I looked from my trunk to the rack above the seats. How could I get it up there, let alone a little first year.

Grumbling under my breath I dragged it as far into the compartment as I could before attempting to pick it up to throw it above me. Big mistake.

Just as it was about to fall back down towards me, two hands appeared from behind me, pushing it up onto the rack.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I turned to face to owner of the arms. "Thank you."

The boy had a friendly smile on his face. He was tall and skinny with light brown hair that fell slightly into his kind eyes. His eyes were unlike eyes I had ever seen before; really light brown with yellowish specks in them. I couldn't help but get slightly lost in them. When I finally pulled my eyes off of his I noticed the dark bags under his eyes that stood out against his pale skin. And if you looked close enough, his face was covered by light scars.

He'd definitely been through the mill by the looks of it, yet he still stood there with the kindest look on his face.

"No problem." His voice seemed strained slightly. "Is this your first year?"

"First and last." I shrugged trying not to make a big deal out of it as I took a seat by the window. "Is it that obvious?" My eyes were drawn back to his.

To my surprise he took a the seat opposite me, the smile on his face seemed to grow bigger. "You have this look on your face. The same look we all had the first time we were here."

I looked at my hands as I smiled. Somehow, in the minute this boy had been in the room he'd managed to make me feel more at east than I had in days.

"I guess it really is obvious when you put it like that. It's just all so daunting." I looked out the window at the almost empty platform. "It's so much harder to start at a school when everyone has already known each other for six years." I found myself rambling, not even realising what I was saying until I had said it.

"You know one person. And you never know, you might even end up in Gryffindor with me." The boy tried his best to make me feel more at ease. "And we'll definitely have a couple of classes together."

The door to the compartment slid open causing me to jump back and hit my head on the wall behind me. The boy stifled a chuckle behind his hand as he looked towards the door.

"Remus, how was you-" The red haired girl who was at the front of the group of girls started speaking to the boy before her green eyes landed on me. She too, much like the boy I can only assume to be Remus, had a friendly smile on her face.

"I'm Juliet." I finally realised I hadn't even introduced myself to Remus.

The red haired girl took the seat next to me, followed by three other girls who filed in behind. Now she was closer to me I got a better look at her and realised she had the brightest green eyes I had seen. Her hair hung down by her waist and she wore minimal amounts of make up which just made her look even more stunning. "I'm Lily. Head girl. This is Marlene, Alice and Dorcas." She pointed out the rest of the girls for me.

Marlene had long, ash blonde hair that hung straight down past her shoulders. Her eyes were deep brown and were brought out by a large amount of dark eye make up. Her lips were also caked in bright pink lipstick, which seemed to be the only thing bright about her as she avoided smiling at me, giving me a small wave of the hand instead.

I didn't like her.

The girl that was pointed out as Alice,a petite girl with short brown hair, like a pixie, and big blue eyes smiled warmly at me. "It's nice to meet you." As she spoke her voice sounded as though she was singing.

Dorcas had dark blonde, bobbed hair that framed her face perfectly bringing out her sharp facial features. Her eyes were sunken and looked almost black. It was only when I took a proper look at her that I realised her eyes were shooting between Remus and myself, obviously trying to work out if there was anything going on between us.

Then I finally realised why Marlene wasn't super friendly. Her friend had a crush on Remus.

"It's nice to meet you all too." I said making sure to smile sweetly at Dorcas and Marlene so that they had no reason to dislike me.

In five minutes I had gone from knowing no one to knowing a few people who all seemed kind enough, and I didn't want to ruin that by making half of those people hate me already. That would be the worst way to start my year.

"It's Juliet's final year too." Remus addressed Lily before turning towards Dorcas and aiming his next sentence towards her. "I bumped into her about two minutes before you guys walked in."

Dorcas seemed to relax when he spoke to her and a small smile appeared on her lips. "So why start now?" She asked causing everyone to turn their attention to me.

"Well my dad got head hunted by the ministry here for a job over here so we had to move from Miami at the beginning of the summer." I explained, not sure whether these were the sorts of people I could even reveal his job to.

My dad had made it clear to me that I would have to be careful with who I got close to. There was a war brewing and there were people who went to this school who would be fighting against my dad.

"What does your dad do?" Alice's ringing voice interrupted my thoughts.

As I looked at each person one at a time I came to the conclusion that if these people were on the other side they wouldn't have been so welcoming. "He was Head Auror in Miami. He's here to help fight against Vladamere."

As everyone started chuckling I suddenly felt uncomfortable. A sudden thought that I had told the wrong people hit me and I knew my face dropped.

"That's not his name." Lily chuckled one last time before her face dropped a bit. "But it's good to finally see the ministry doing something about it."

I let out the breath I didn't realise I had been holding out when I noticed Lily's acceptance of what my dad was doing.

"I'd be careful about who you say that in front of though." Remus warned me, his smile never wavering.

Suddenly I realised he was right. I had no idea who I should avoid and who was alright to befriend. Obviously, these people were alright and I was lucky to find them when I did; but what if I wasn't in the same house as them? Then what? What would I do then?

My worries must have been obvious on my face as Remus started talking again. "Don't worry, we'll help you out. You're not completely alone now."

Suddenly there was a loud commotion in the corridor that interrupted everyone.

"MOONY!" A male voice shouted. There was something about it that seemed somewhat familiar but I couldn't put my finger on where I'd heard it before. "WE KNOW YOU'RE HERE SOMEWHERE!"

A slight grin appeared on Remus' face as he stood up. "I guess that's my cue." He made his way out of the compartment and headed towards the voice.

"Who were you in there with Moony?" The voice continued, getting closer to the compartment.

Marlene's face lit up, whereas Lily's seemed to drop at the sound of the voice coming closer.

"I best go to the prefect meeting." Lily announced, making sure to flash me a smile as she stood up and followed Remus but stopped in her tracks just outside the door. "Potter! I'm leaving. Do not follow me." She snapped, her voice filled with venom.

How could someone who was so nice to me turn so nasty that quickly? Whoever this Potter was must have been awful.

"But Lily, my flower, you need me." Potter said, obviously following her. "I am head boy after all."

It was clear Lily was not happy as everyone could hear her mutter something under her breath as she stormed off with him in tow.

"I'm going to find Black." Marlene spoke more to Alice and Dorcas than me. "It's been too long since I've seen him. See you at dinner." She winked as she headed out the doors, bumping straight into someone. "Hey you, I think we should find somewhere a bit more private." Her muffled voice came through the glass.

I looked between the remaining two girls, waiting for them to make an excuse to get up and leave, but it never came. Instead, the door slid open to reveal a small, mousy boy. His ears were too big for his body and his lips were too small. He had mousy brown hair and blue, beady eyes that took in the three of us sat in the compartment.

"Hey Peter." Dorcas smiled at him, moving up so she was sat opposite me and Peter next to her. "This is Juliet."

He greeted me with a small smile on his face before everyone gave an account of what they got up to over the summer. Peter had spent his time looking after his ill mother or spending his time with the other boys. Alice had gone on holiday with her boyfriend before he started his Auror training. And Dorcas went into detail about her trip to France with her family.

"What about you, Juliet?" Alice asked when everyone had stopped talking. "What did you do?"

I thought back to my summer and couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face as his eyes instantly came into my mind.

Alice's eyes lit up and the smile on her face grew, "That look can only mean one thing. A boy!" She turned on her seat so the door was to her back and I was directly in front of her.

"Spill!" Dorcas demanded, leaning on her knees so she was closer to me.

It had been a long time since I had girls to talk to like this and I instantly took them up on the chance to spill the beans about the ins and outs of summer break.

I sat back and looked between the two girls, both of them waiting expectantly for me to start.

"Well how did you meet?" Alice prompted me.

I took a deep breath and looked out of the window.

 _I'd been exploring all day and after about an hour of trying to find my way home I finally accepted that I was lost. I had no idea where I was going. It didn't matter where I went and where I looked, everything looked the same._

 _Apparating was out of the question until I could find somewhere without anyone around; that's not an easy feat in the middle of London at anytime, especially when I had just been lectured about taking extra precautions around here._

 _Instead, I found myself wandering around hoping to find a road that was empty, even for a split second. Or an alley. Anything._

 _Making my way through, what I thought was, my third park, a voice came from a bench in the corner._

 _"You lost?" The voice was husky and somewhat amused._

 _I stopped in my tracks. My eyes darted to the direction of the voice and my hand shot to my waistband, fingering my wand slightly just in case. All I could see was a dark silhouette; my eyes wouldn't focus enough to make any of his features out._

 _I knew what was potentially out there, and the thought of running into it on my first full day in England had my heart crashing against my chest. I couldn't let myself believe that it was really that bad here._

 _"This is the third time you've walked through here." The voice continued when I didn't respond._

 _"I'm fine." I snapped, keeping my voice strong and my answer short. I wasn't about to let some stranger know how terrified I really was. That would only be showing weakness._

 _The figure stood up and started making his way towards me. "I really don't think you are fine. I've lived her my whole life." He spoke. It seemed like he was trying to make his voice softer as not to scare me. "I'm sure I can direct you to wherever you need to go."_

 _"I'll be fine without your help thanks." I replied, the twitch in my fingers was growing the closer he got to me._

 _He finally came close enough that the darkness was no longer obscuring my view of him. I realised he can't have been much older than me. His black hair hung lazily over his eyes but he brushed it away when he came to stand in front of me. He wore dark jeans and a tight, dark top, a leather jacket thrown on over the top, despite the warm evening air._

 _My eyes travelled up to his and I instantly got lost in them. They were soft but there was a slight twinkle in them. There was something about them that instantly made me relax, my fingers finally leaving my wand._

 _"You're obviously not from around here, so why are you on your own?" A smirk appeared on his lips as his eyes travelled up and down my body before landing once again on my own eyes._

 _As I took everything about him in I couldn't find even a speck of anything sinister about him. Maybe it was his godly good looks, or the smirk that travelled all the way up to his eyes, but he seemed alright._

 _"Are you not going to say anything?" His smirk only grew at my lack of response._

 _"I just moved here yesterday." I forced myself to speak, my voice wasn't as harsh as I'd forced it to be before. "I thought I'd spend the day exploring."_

 _"And now you're lost." It wasn't a question._

 _"Something like that." I couldn't help but smile back at the amused guy in front of me._

 _He took a step towards the direction I had originally come from. "Where do you need to go?"_

 _I knew there was no way I could tell him where I lived but a little help wouldn't go amiss. I racked my brain trying to remember a landmark that was close to my house._

 _"The Hope and something?" I tried, my voice made it obvious that I really wasn't sure if it was right._

 _"And Anchor?" He asked, getting a nod from me. "I know it, you're headed the wrong way. I'll walk you."_

 _He started making his way out of the park, leaving me stood there watching him go. I just couldn't get my feet to work. Was I really accepting help off a complete stranger. All the worst possible scenarios ran through my head but I forced them out just as quickly as they came._

 _"You coming?" He had slowed down and looked over his shoulder at me causing me to get drawn into his eyes again._

 _I knew I only had a moment to make my mind up. Find my own way back, apparate as soon as he went on his way, or accept his help._

 _He did seem genuine, and I had my wand. I was more than capable of defending myself if it was needed. My mind was made up when he flashed me yet another grin and I made my way to catch up with him._

 _"Good choice." He winked at me._

 _"We'll see." I didn't realise I had spoken the words out loud until he chuckled._

 _I folded my arms across my chest as we made our way to what I could only hope was the pub I wanted to go to. There I was, trusting someone I had only just met; I didn't even know his name._

 _"So what brings you here?" He asked trying to fill the silence between us._

 _I was silent for a minute as I thought about my answer, knowing I couldn't tell him the truth. "My dad was from here originally, so when he got the chance to come back for work it was a no brainer for him." I recited the story that had been agreed by my parents. "He's been wanting a reason to come back for a few years but it was never the right time."_

 _"What does he do?"_

 _"He's in the military." I replied simply, receiving a nod from the attractive stranger._

 _The rest of the journey went pretty much like that until we got to the pub. We spoke about family, school, Miami, plans for the future. I told him all the lies that had been drilled into me when it came to dealing with a nomaj._

 _By the time the pub was in sight we had both slowed right down, dawdling to prolong reaching it._

 _"So this is it." His voice was soft. "You sure you'll be alright from here?"_

 _"Yeah, I know exactly where I am now. Thanks." I smiled at him as we both stopped to face each other. I walked around him to start heading in the direction of my house._

 _"So, how can I go about seeing you again?" He asked with a twinkle in his eye._

 _I couldn't stop the smile from spreading on my face as my eyes dropped to the floor for a moment. I moved my eyes to look up at him through my eyelashes._

 _"I guess we'll just have to see if you're lucky enough to bump into me again." With that I turned my back on him._

 _I could hear him chuckle as I walked away._

 _"Do I not even get to know your name?" He shouted after me._

 _"Next time." I shouted back with a smirk on my face._

 _I don't know what it was, but I just knew there would be a next time. It wasn't just going to end there with him._

I finished telling the girls how we met and realised I had the biggest grin on my face. Recalling the memory instantly made my heart full.

"You've got it bad!" Alice giggled.

For some reason it just made me smile wider. I knew she was right, and if she could figure it out from that it must be bad.

"When did you next see him?" Dorcas seemed fixated on me, wanted me to reveal more. It was as though she was living a love life through what I was telling her.

"He showed up at that pub two nights later." I shrugged, a giggle escaping my lips as I thought back to seeing him again.

The door to the compartment slid open revealing Lily who immediately took a seat next to Alice.

"I cannot believe Dumbledore would make him head boy!" She cried as she put her head in her hands. "He's finally lost it!"

Alice rubbed Lily's back comfortingly. "Are you sure it's not a joke?" Her eyes moved to Peter and she raised her eyebrow.

"It's really not." Peter's voice was weak under the stare of all four of us girls. "I was just as shocked as you."

Alice and Dorcas both went wide eyed as they looked at Peter in shock.

The door opened again and Remus entered talking to someone over his shoulder. The other boy was half way through saying something when he followed. When his eyes landed on me he stopped what he was saying, his eyes going wide for a split second.

I couldn't believe my eyes and shut them for a moment before opening them again, revealing that he was in fact stood in the doorway. He shook his head once at me so no one else noticed before he took up a seat beside Remus, who was next to Peter.

"This is Juliet." Remus introduced us, obviously not realising we had already met. "She's just moved here from Miami."

"We met briefly this summer, believe it or not." He announced causing a few raised eyebrows from the group. "She just happened to be a regular at the rock pub I went to once."

Alice and Dorcas turned to look at me as if to see if our stories would match up so I simply nodded.

"Where's Padfoot?" James asked the group.

"Marlene dragged him off." Dorcas giggled as she wiggled her eyebrows at James.

Remus just rolled his eyes. "Of course, trust him to get his leg over before we even get to school!"

The rest of the group chuckled at this but James' were still locked on me.

For the rest of the journey the boys sat there whispering amongst themselves, often throwing glances in my direction but I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't like I'd spent a lot of time with James, just the one night half way through the summer.

It wasn't long before we found ourselves all squished in a carriage, Dorcas and Alice leaving to find another group to travel to the castle with.

When the castle came into view I couldn't believe my eyes. It looked very similar to Ilvermorny, but at the same time was completely different.

We all clambered out of the carriages and James and Lily dragged me off to a proffesor when we reached the castle.

"Professor McGonagall." Lily spoke softly to get the teachers attention. "Juliet is new here, will she be going through the sorting with the first years?"

The stern looking teacher looked me up and down before smiling warmly at me. "I have been advised by the headmaster to wait until after the feast to sort Miss Bryce."

I had no idea what the sorting would entail, but I was grateful that I wouldn't have to go through it in front of the whole school like I had previously be warned about.

"She can sit with you for now. If one of you could stay behind with her afterwards we will get her sorted then." Professor McGonagall spoke, her Scottish accent thick.

Lily and James simply nodded and thanked her on my behalf before we made our way into the great hall.

Once again, my eyes popped open. The ceiling looked as though it was invisible, revealing a clear night sky filled with stars.

Silently following the head girl and boy we made our way to the group we had sat with on the train.

My brain was working in overdrive as I tried to take in every last detail of the hall. There was even a couple sitting just off to one side of us, engrossed in trying to eat each others faces. I cringed inwardly.

The professor we had just spoken to walked past with a trail of first years. "Black! Time and place!"

The couple broke apart revealing Marlene, the girl who had been on the train with us to begin with, and a face I would never forget. He flashed the teacher a cheeky grin before it dropped when his grey eyes landed on me.

I couldn't stop the shock that washed over me. It was like I was in some sort of dream. No, a nightmare.

"Sirius?"


	3. This Is Home

**A/N: So I really wasn't happy with the first version I posted of this chapter. I don't think it was even up for a full 24 hours before I took it back down. I have changed a lot of the interactions in the chapter, and have made it longer with something a little extra for those of you who did read the first version. I am sorry, but I hope the updated version is a lot better. (I believe it is ;) ) And finally a small Sirius/Juliet scene :)**

 **Thanks for the follows/faves/reviews. I love reading what you have to say about my work so feel free to drop a review or pm me :)**

 **Lastly, I am thinking of finding a beta for this story, so if you feel up to the task drop me a message.**

 **Happy reading :)**

The couple broke apart at the sound of the teachers voice. Marlene, the girl who had been on the train with us, went bright pink as she looked towards the teacher to apologise. It wasn't her that my eyes lingered on though. It was him; a face that I wasn't going to forget in a hurry, even if I wanted to more than anything in that moment. He flashed the teacher a cheeky grin before his grey eyes landed on me. The grin instantly vanished from his face at the sight of me.

"Sirius?" My voice was barely a whisper as my eyes ran over his face. I blinked furiously, hoping that he would disappear or it would reveal that my eyes were indeed playing tricks on me. To my misfortune he continued sitting there staring at me, his mind seemed to be going through the same process as mine.

Since we had said goodbye I had hoped that one day I would bump into him again. I had even imagined different ways in which it could have happened, but nothing that I had thought up could have prepared me for this. I had never imagined that he would be all over another girl, or that there would be at least a dozen eyes trained on me as they tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. That's if they didn't already know.

Alice and Dorcas had put two and two together, the looks on their faces were of understanding as they looked at me. It was never going to be hard for those two to work it out. Especially seeing as they already knew I was head over heels for someone. I just wished this wasn't how they found out. They both raised their eyebrows at one another, as if seeing if they each understood what was going on, before turning their gaze back on me.

Remus was looking at me, his light brown eyes seemed to sympathise with me. His lips turned up at one corner as he gave me an apologetic smile. James must have told him on the train; that was why they kept looking at me!

Marlene was looking at me warily as she draped herself over Sirius more, obviously trying to mark her territory. It just made me want to roll my eyes, which with everyone else's eyes on me probably would not have been the wisest of things to do. Somehow, I managed to keep my mouth shut and prevent my eyes from rolling.

Lily and Peter didn't seem to bothered about what was going on. Peter, who already knew just shrugged and his eyes dropped from me pretty quickly. Lily, on the other hand, was taking in everything that was going on. Her eyes darted from me, to Sirius before landed in Marlene. It was clear that she had no idea what was going on.

James was the only one who hadn't even bothered to look at my direction. Instead, his eyes were focussed on Sirius. His jaw was clenched and his eyebrows were furrowed as he waited to get Sirius' attention.

Not that it was working. Sirius was paying absolutely no attention to James, or anyone else in the room for that matter. He eyes were trained on me, wider than I'd ever seen then, his mouth was hanging open ever so slightly too. If anything was clear, it was that this was the last thing he had expected.

It wasn't long before he regained his composure and his face lost all emotion. His grey eyes turned cold, snatching away the last piece of him that I recognised.

My eyes flickered between Sirius and Marlene before finally landing on their hands that were intertwined together on top of the table. My breath caught in my throat.

It was as though it had only just sunk in, seeing their hands together like that. Suddenly I remember the conversation on the train.

 _Remus just rolled his eyes. "Of course, trust him to get his leg over before we even get to school!"_

They all just laughed it off like it was an everyday occurrence. They weren't shocked that he disappeared with a girl, that he couldn't wait until the evening. Yet there I was, the lump in my throat growing bigger with every passing moment.

Everything that I had felt over the course of the summer was slowly becoming null and void. The more my brain worked to fit everything together, the more I realised it was all bullshit. That the guy I had spent all that time with probably didn't even exist.

Inside my blood was boiling. All I wanted to do was scream at Sirius, find out what he was playing at; but he had no loyalties to me. We had both agreed that we would walk away and go on with our separate lives. It took everything within me to keep myself calm and keep reminding myself that we weren't meant to see each other again.

I forced a small smile onto my face, hoping that it didn't look too much like a grimace.

"Jules." His low voice sounded bored. "Well isn't this a surprise?" He flashed me a lopsided grin but it never reached his eyes. He pulled his hand away from Marlene's, but snaked his arm around her waist as she nestled into his side.

"Isn't it just?" I grumbled as I tore my eyes away from the couple. I wasn't going to let anyone know just how much this was affecting me; especially not Sirius.

"You two know each other?" I could see Marlene continue to glance between the two of us out of the corner of my eye. She seemed unsure of what to make of the situation.

"Barely. We met briefly over the holidays." Sirius announced to everyone. "She was dating a friend of mine."

At those words my eyes shot to him. I couldn't believe my ears. Was he really going to sit there and lie about how we knew each other? Why? Why would he do that?

"Isn't that right, Jules?" He looked at me, encouraging me to agree with him.

For some unknown reason my head started nodding before my brain had even registered what I was doing. At the sight of me agreeing with him, the grin on his face grew wider.

"Please, it's Juliet." I drew his attention back to me. "Only my friends call me Jules."

His face dropped slightly but he caught it before anyone else noticed.

For the remainder of the sorting and the feast I found myself trying to avoid looking in the direction of Sirius, focussing instead on pushing my food around on my plate.

I couldn't let my mind stray to Sirius either, which was proving impossible as every second in the same proximity to him and his...Marlene, my heart grew heavier.

Was it really possible to move on that quickly? It had only been two days since I last saw him, and in those two days he had managed to change completely. He was no longer the kind, sweet man I thought he was. Now he was this cold, emotionless womaniser.

No! I wasn't going to sit and mope about him. I wasn't going to be upset over someone that I only knew for a few months. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he got to me.

Holding my head up high, I let my eyes land on Remus who was in the middle of a conversation with James at the time. It wasn't long until his eyes flickered to me and he gave me a warm smile.

"And to think you were worried about not knowing anyone this morning." The smile on his face grew as he spoke. He piled a second helping of roast beef and potatoes onto his plate.

I breathed out a laugh as I shook my head at him. All it took was that one sentence and it felt like the weight had lifted off my chest. "I'm starting to think it would be a lot easier if I didn't." I smiled as I pushed the food around my plate.

"Aww, come on. You don't mean that." James said inbetween shovelling mouthfuls of food into his mouth.

"It is always handy knowing us." Sirius pointed to him and James.

Just the sound of Sirius' voice was enough to wind me up again. The fact that he could be so arrogant despite everything that was going on just got to me even more.

"I guess I'll be the judge of that." My voice was distant as I replied to him, keeping my eyes trained on Remus the entire time I was speaking.

It was silent for a moment so I chanced a look at Sirius, finding him looking at me with furrowed eyebrows, his arm still tight around Marlene. I quickly diverted my eyes, letting them land on Alice.

"Sirius?" She mouthed so that no one could here.

I nodded at her, grimacing as I did.

Alice squeezes my hand under the table away from prying eyes. It was just what I needed at that moment in time and I even managed to avoid looking at Sirius for the whole sorting and the feast.

"Come on then Juliet, we best go get you sorted." James turned to me once Remus had left to lead the first years to the common room.

I looked between him and Lily for a moment, trying to decide whether to ask for her to come with my instead. The look Marlene gave her told me it probably wasn't the best of decisions to move in on her friend after everything that had went on in this short amount of time.

Nodding at James I quickly turned to Alice. "Can we keep the whole Sirius thing quite?" I whispered so no one else could hear. "He obviously doesn't want anyone to know."

Alice nodded at me before sending a warm smile in my direction. "Of course." She got up and turned to leave with the rest of the group. "Oh, and good luck. Hopefully you end up in Gryffindor."

I sent her my most genuine smile. At least I had found one person that seemed to not mind about who I knew and how I knew them. The thought of having at least her made everything seem that little bit better.

I felt Sirius' eyes on me as I stood up to follow James but made sue to divert my gaze from him.

"Jules. Err...Juliet?" His voice was soft, but void of any emotion.

With an inward groan I turned to face him. As if it was bad enough that I was actually going to be stuck in the same boarding school as him, he was now going to try and talk to me? After everything?

"Yes?"

"How about a catch up in a bit?" He raised an eyebrow at me and the corner of his mouth twitched as if he was trying not to smirk.

Marlene continued to drape herself over him and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the pair.

"Sure. I'd love to find out what Judas has been up to." I said, plastering my face with the most sickly, sweet smile I could muster.

"Judas?" For the first time since we had got here he let himself look confused.

"You know, your friend? The one I was dating." I held his gaze, doing my best to keep all the emotions from my face. Without waiting for a response I turned my back on him and made my way to where James was waiting slightly down the aisle.

Following James as he directed us to the front of the hall where the teachers were still sat, watching over the students as they made their ways to their common rooms.

"Ah, Mister Potter." A man spoke to James as we reached the desk. His blue eyes twinkled behind his half moon glasses and they instantly made some of my nerves disappear. "I'm happy to see you starting to take you knew duties seriously already."

"Of course, Sir." James had a slight smirk on his face. Something about the look on his face made me think that he wasn't taking it as seriously as the old man hoped.

"And Miss Bryce." He smiled at me, diminishing any remaining nerves I may had had. "It's good to have you here. I've heard so much about you."

"Let's hope I live up to all the expectations my dad has created for me." I laughed, and in the process got a laugh out of the professor.

James looked between us as we continued having a brief chat about how my parents were.

"Anyway, Professor McGonagall is waiting for you in the next room." He pointed towards a single door adjacent to the teachers desk. "Let's see just how much like your father you are, shall we?"

There was something about the headteacher that made me feel at ease. It could be the way his eyes twinkled. Or the fact that I knew he was still in contact with my dad, even though it had been years since my dad went here.

"Oh, Miss Bryce?" Dumbledore's soft voice came from behind us. I turned to face him. "If you need anything Mister Potter will have no problems showing you where my office is."

I returned his smile. "Thank you, Sir."

With that James took me through the door, revealing a small room with the same, strict teach er from before. This time she was stood with a stool in front of her. On that stool sat an old ratty hat. The same hat that had been used for the previous sorting in front of the whole school.

"Come and take a seat." McGonagall said, her voice was sharp and to the point. With brisk movements she lifted the hat up and waited for me to take a seat.

I took a breath and made my way to the stool before taking a seat on it. McGonagall wasted no time in putting the hat on my head.

By this point I had no idea what house I wanted to be in. All of my dad's family had been in Gryffindor, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. However, that would mean spending loads of time with Sirius. Maybe Hufflepuff wouldn't be so bad?

"Another Bryce!" The hat shouted in my ear. I jumped, my hand shot to my chest. "It's been a while since we've had one of you on my stool. It's a no brainer where you belong. I'm sure we'll see great things from you. Better be, GRYFFINDOR!"

I blew out the breath that I had been holding in and hopped off the stool.

Gryffindor. I was in Gryffindor. My dad would be so proud. I knew that was all he wanted when he sent me here. And the only people I had met were in the same house, so at least it was a start.

"Welcome to Gryffindor, dear. I look forward to seeing great things from you." McGonagall was like a different person. Her voice was now warm and there was a faint trace of a smile on her face. "I'm sure Mister Potter will know exactly how to find me if you need anything. Now get a move on, both of you. It's past curfew."

I said goodbye to the teacher as she turned to clear up the sorting hat before making my way back to the great hall with James.

"She's like two different people." I pointed out as I matched James' leisurely pace.

"You'll get used to Minnie. She's head of our house. She's a real pussy cat at heart." James chuckled to himself as though something he said was completely funny.

The look on my face must have shown that I didn't get it because he just shook his head at me.

"So, this is the last place I expected to see you." James messed up his hair as he spoke. Which is saying something as it was pretty much a mess before.

"I think we can both say the same thing." I shrugged, keeping my eyes on the floor as we made our way towards the common room. "And there was me thinking I'd never see the pair of you again."

A low chuckle came from James. "You can't get rid of us that easily, Jules." He bumped into my shoulder.

During our journey I couldn't help but think back to the night Sirius had brought James along to the rock pub we always met up. We'd clicked instantly but it didn't take too long to realise just how close the two boys were. With all their inside jokes it was a surprise that I managed to fit in with the pair of them so easily.

Taking a glance at James, I realised that maybe him being here wasn't actually that bad. Yes, the whole Sirius thing was not my idea of a good time; but from what I had seen James wasn't that bad. Not that I could trust my judge of character all that much.

"I'm starting to see that." I mumbled, making sure he could hear me.

James let out a simple chuckle but it only lasted a second or two. His eyes drifted down to me as his hand drifted up to his hair. "About Sirius. He's be-"

I raised my hand to stop him from talking, my head shaking as I did. "Please don't, James." I took a deep breath. "I don't want to hear it. I don't want you making excuses for him."

"I'm n-"

"Please, let me finish." I looked at him, waiting for him to try and say something again but this time he stayed silent, waiting for me to continue. "You and Sirius are close. I get that. And I get that you're just trying to look out for him." I plopped my thumb in my mouth, nibbling on the nail for a moment. "But this is between me and him. The more people that are involved, the messier it's going to be." I took a longer pause than necessary. "And I really don't want any additional drama than I'd already get for being the new girl."

"Okay." James simply nodded at me. "I'll stay out of it as much as I can, but it's not exactly just between you and Sirius."

"Marlene." I sighed out loud as the words hit me. As much as I hated to admit it, James was right.

James didn't say anything for a few steps. "It's complicated." He seemed fed up as he spoke.

"Just what I was hoping for." I forced my voice to stay cheery which only caused James to raise my eyebrow at me. "Sarcasm." I said with an eye roll.

Without any warning James suddenly stopped as he focussed on something at the end of the corridor. As far as I could see though, there was nothing there. Not even straining my eyes showed anything from the direction he was looking.

"I'll meet you outside the common room." James' voice stopped me from searching the dark corridor. I looked up at him curiously. "I'm sure you want a bit of privacy." He nodded in the direction he had been looking before.

This time, when I looked down the corridor it was no longer empty. Sirius was now stood, leaning against one of the walls with a smirk on his face.

My breath got caught in my throat and my heart started crashing against my chest. Despite knowing that he had slept with another girl just hours before, I couldn't help but feel a prang of excitement at the prospect of being alone with him. That didn't last long though, and was soon replaced with anticipation. All I wanted was answers, and he was going to give them to me.

I walked beside James as we made our way to Sirius, whose eyes were trained on me the entire time. This time, however, they weren't cold. They were full of all the emotions that I saw every time I saw him before. They were full of adoration, but rather than making me feel like the only girl in the world, they made me cringe. I couldn't comprehend how one person can be so hot and cold without even struggling.

Sirius and James mumbled something to each other before James disappeared the way we came, sending a warm smile my way as he went on his way.

Suddenly the air between the two of us was so thick it seemed to become harder to breath. My mind went completely blank as I reeled to think of the questions I wanted to ask.

"It really is good to see you, Jules." His voice was warm, nothing like the bored drawl he had spoken to me in before. His eyes were alive, twinkling despite the lack of light. The smirk on his face changed, from cocky and arrogant to warm and loving, the second James' back was to us. It was like he was two completely different people.

"I'm not sure I can say the same." I replied to hi honestly, as I took in every detail about him again. From the close proximity the scent of his cologne reached my nose, the normal hints of leather and cigarettes mingling with it. It instantly took me back to all the good times we spent together but I quickly snapped myself out of it. "What do you want to talk about, Sirius"?

"I guess I owe you an explanation." Sirius let out a small as he looked at me. I could see the thoughts floating around in his head. It was as though he didn't know where to start.

I shook my head before I even knew what I was doing. "No, you don't." I couldn't believe what I was saying myself and the look on Sirius' face told me he was thinking the same thing. "We're not together. Separate lives remember?"

The tension disappeared from Sirius' shoulders as he relaxed at my words. I wasn't sure what he expected but I really didn't want to set the year of to a bad start. If that meant I had to just let this slide for now it was the least I could do. Besides, after everything that I had seen today I really don't know if I would have believed anything he had told me. I wasn't even sure if I wanted to hear anything that would change my opinion of him even more than it already had.

This time it was Sirius who shook his head. "Just hear me out." He looked at me and I felt myself get lost in those eyes all over again. "Me and Marlene, it's been a benefit thing with her for a while. And then I met you and it changed things for me. But you weren't here. Or you weren't supposed to be here."

"So you went back to you normal life." I finished for him.

"I did miss you." His hand came up to cup my cheek but I took a step back. His shoulders slumped the smallest amount. "The thing is, Jules, I don't do relationships. I don't want to be in one. That's what made everything so great with us."

I took a deep breath and focussed on a point behind Sirius' head. "I get it, Sirius." The lie came easily.

In reality, I didn't understand how everything we had got brushed to one side so easily. I didn't understand how the person that was stood in front of me was so different to the guy I had fallen for.

"How about for now we just forget everything and try to be friends?" Sirius' voice was calm, as though none of this had affected him.

My heart was tearing in two as I nodded my answer. Being just friends with Sirius was the last thing I wanted, and I knew it wouldn't be easy to do but it was the only thing I could think to do at that moment. There was obviously so much that I didn't know about the guy I had fallen for and I had to accept that.

Rather than going against what I said Sirius nodded, crushing me just that little bit more. We both started walking to the common room making idle chit chat with each other. Not once did Sirius pry in what actually brought me here. He must have known that the story he knew was all a story to give to nomaj's.

We finally caught up with James, who on seeing us said something to a portrait, causing it to swing open. Without a second thought both boys stepped into the doorway with me just behind them.

The common room was round, cosy and everything was red and gold. The atmosphere seemed to drop as we stepped in, everyone going silent as they noticed me walk in.

"You have got to be kidding me." Was the only thing I could hear as it became apparent that this was going to be my new home.


	4. The Start Of An Unexpected Friendship

**A/N: I know it's been a while since I updated but here's a long chapter to make up for it. I'm so sorry people. Life just got very crazy and then we had illnesses in the household, I swear my other half was worse than our daughter too. Things are starting to die down a little bit so I plan on updating a lot more than I have done.**

 **I have managed to jot lots of little snippets down so there will be plenty of stuff coming up in the future. Just bare with me a touch :)**

 **Thank you to all you lovely lot who have favourited and followed this story. Ten of you in one chapter! I love you all! And to those of you who took the time to leave reviews, you're amazing. I'd love to know what you think of this chapter so remember to review ;)**

 **I hope you enjoy it :)**

I was wrong. There was no way I could even attempt to be friends with Sirius whilst I had feelings for him. It was stupid of me to even agree to it. Agreeing to it just meant that I had to watch Sirius go about his day the same way he would before I came along; and I couldn't say anything about it.

It's not like I could just ignore him either. He seemed to be everywhere. In the common room, in every lesson I had, every meal. And wherever Sirius was, there was at least one girl trying to throw herself at him. If it wasn't Marlene, it was some other bimbo giggling at every last thing he said.

This time was no different. There he was, standing next to a petite brunette girl as she laughed at something he had said. She was looking up at him as though he was the only guy in the room, and he was matching her expression as he looked down at her. The charming grin on his face grew wider just moments before he let out a bark of laughter. Sirius took a step closer to the Hufflepuff girl and pressed his hand on her lower back as he pointed out something in front of them.

Despite the ache in my heart that was growing with each passing moment, I couldn't tear my eyes away from them. He looked so happy and in his element. This was his life and I had to start accepting that.

The more I watched him like this, the more I believed that what we had obviously meant nothing to him. The more I believed that, the easier it was for me to dislike him; and if I disliked him it would finally mean I was over him. Right?

"Stop watching him." Alice's voice made me jump, snapping me out of my train of thought. "You're supposed to be helping me." She nodded towards the plant she was transferring to a bigger pot. The smile on her face never faltered one bit.

Alice had taken on the role of taking me under her wing. This didn't just mean showing me around and making sure I settled in alright, she also made sure that I didn't mope after Sirius.

"Sorry." I let out a breathy laugh as I grabbed a handful of dragon dung, dropping it into the pot only for it to splatter all over the pair of us.

The smile on Alice's face was gone as she stared at me, her mouth wide open in shock. There were specks of dung dotted all over her face and hair. When she finally got over her shock Alice scowled at me, causing my composure to break and my laughter to start. My laughter only grew when a handful of the dung hit me in the side of the face. It was then that Alice joined me, her laughter ringing through the air.

"Miss Prewett, Miss Bryce." Professor Sprout's unusually sharp voice interrupted our laughter, drawing the attention of everyone else in the room to us.

The laughter died on my lips as I took in the disappointment written all over the teachers face. There I was, in my third lesson of the school year and I was already done for. What a great first impression I was making on everyone. I couldn't help but sigh as Professor Sprout reached our table.

"I'm really sorry. It was all an accident." I mumbled before giving anyone else the chance to say anything. Professor Sprout just put her hand up to stop me.

"I expect better from you, Miss Prewett. This isn't like you at all." The teacher was looking down at Alice with some sort of sadness in her eyes.

"Sorry, Miss. I slipped." Alice's voice was it's normal self. At the sound of it I turned to look at her to see a sweet smile spread across her face. The smile did it's job and softened the teachers face.

The sight of my friend almost sent me into fits of laughter again so I pressed my fist to my mouth, biting down on it slightly to stifle it. As I dragged my eyes away from Alice, they landed on Sirius. He was leaning against his desk, arms crossed over his chest, watching me with amusement in his eyes and an impressed smirk on his lips. My face dropped at the sight and I instantly avoided looking in his direction.

"And you, Miss Bryce." I turned to face Professor Sprout as she addressed me. The hint of sadness was completely gone and her face was deadpan. "I expected a much better first impression from you. You're father is not going to be pleased."

My stomach dropped at the mention of my father. It was becoming clear that most of the teachers knew who my dad was, and they were setting me on some sort of pedestal because of who he was and what he had told them about me. The thought of that just made me want to be back in America more than anything.

"Sorry, Professor." I grumbled as I stared at the plant on the desk.

"You will both have detention tonight. Be here at half seven tonight."

Professor Sprout spun around on her heal and made her way to the front of the classroom where she continued to watch us both like a hawk.

"Great. Not even here one week and she already hates me." I kept my voice low, not wanting to give her another reason to pull me up in front of the class.

"Which is saying something." Alice giggled. "Prof Sprout doesn't hate anyone." She winked at me, not bothering to keep her voice down. "But unless you want to make things worse we should probably finish sorting this...thing out."

We worked in silence for a moment until my eyes once again drifted to Sirius and the girl he was working closely with.

"Jules?" Alice nudged my shoulder as she spoke.

I let out a small sigh. "How many are there?" I didn't take my eyes off the girl as she threw her head back and let out a laugh at whatever Sirius was saying to her.

Alice turned to look at me with pity in her eyes. "Listen, Jules. I've known Sirius a very long time. And the guy you described to me, well I've never seen that side of him. There are so many great things about him, but he's never been even remotely interested in relationships." She gestured towards Sirius with her hand. "He manages to have a different girl every other week, but he always went back to Marlene in the end."

My eyes drifted over to Marlene who was scowling at Sirius, not bothering to hide how she was feeling. It was written all over her face for everyone to see.

"She's been hung up on him for years but he's never been interested in anything more than a bit of fun. I wouldn't even say that they're friends."

My heart sunk for her as she watched Sirius shamelessly flirt with the Hufflepuff.

"That explains her hospitality." I mused. Despite her inability to even look at me without scowling I still couldn't bring myself to dislike her. Especially since I knew how she felt. Maybe not to the same extent, but it was similar.

"She'll come around." Alice was putting the last of the dragon dung in the pot. "If you really are serious about getting over Sirius." The corner of her mouth turned upwards as she spoke. "She's really not too bad once you get past her attitude."

"I'll be sure to bare that in mind next time she makes her bitchy comments." I gave a humourless laugh.

The whole thing just seemed to be getting more and more complicated. The more I knew about what was going on, the less I wanted to be involved in any of it. The last thing I wanted to do was cause Marlene any more heartache than she had obviously felt because of Sirius.

"Just give her a bit of time. You're both hurting. Maybe you can use that to be there for her?" Alice suggested as she took her gloves off and shoved them in her bag.

"Just because I don't want to be at the receiving end of her wrath, it doesn't mean I'm going to go out of my way to win her over. I'm not bending over backwards just for one person to like me." I explained as I packed my stuff away and left the greenhouse at the end of class.

When we were half way back to the castle an arm wrapped around my shoulders and I instantly tensed up. I knew who it was without having to look.

"You really do stink." Sirius laughed heartily. "But I am somewhat impressed."

I sighed and, despite the sparks that he sent shooting across my whole body, shrugged his arm off me. "And why is that?" I glanced up at him raising a questioning eyebrow.

"I can't believe someone has actually managed to get a detention before me or Prongs." He looked down at me with a huge grin on his face. "I think you two are the only people to beat us."

I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow at him. Out of everything I could have done to try and impress him, it was the one thing that I never would have thought of that did.

"I think you must be the only person who would ever be impressed by that." I couldn't help but laugh.

"Nah, I gotta admit I'm pretty impressed too." James seemed to appear beside Sirius out of nowhere.

Alice let out a delicate chuckle. "Oh, James. You don't count. You two aren't exactly on the same page as most people."

"Of course we're not. We are so much better than most people." Sirius smirked, once again wrapping his arm around me whilst he wrapped his other arm over Alice's shoulder.

Heat spread from his hand, slowly making its way throughout my entire body. I knew I should have been keeping my distance, I needed to make sure I didn't fall for his charm again. Or his smile. Or his eyes. Despite all of this, I found myself staying in my safe place, because, even after everything, Sirius Black was still that. He was still the person I felt safest with, and that wasn't going to go away just because I wanted it to.

It was when Marlene walked past, huffing as she did that I shrank away from Sirius once more. Glancing around as I did, I realised that it wasn't just Marlene watching us. Watching me. No, glaring at me. I suddenly felt uncomfortable under their gaze. As if being the new girl wasn't enough.

"If you say so." Alice sang, the slight twitch of her lips was the only thing that revealed her sarcasm.

"Don't act like it's not true. We know you love us, Prewett." James knocked into her with his shoulder.

"Oh, we're on last name basis now, are we?" Alice put her hand on her heart, feigning horror as she did.

"Only whilst you're pretending you don't love us!" Sirius barked. He took a few large strides ahead before turning around to walk backwards so that he faced us.

With him facing us I couldn't help but take him in. His eyes were dancing with amusement as he looked me up and down. His lips parted in a cheeky smirk, revealing his perfect, white teeth. His tie hung loosely around his neck, the top buttons of his shirt undone, revealing...

Internally scolding myself, I snapped my eyes back onto Sirius' face just in time to notice the twitch in his smile. He hadn't missed it and that just made my cheeks grow hotter.

"As if you'd ever believe me if I told you I didn't love you both." Alice gave in, creating chuckles out of all of us.

"There's the Alice we've grown to love." Sirius took his eyes off me and gave Alice his biggest grin. "But there's actually something I wanted to talk to you both about."

"Of course. How did it not occur to me that you had some ulterior motive to talking to us." Alice reached forward to punch Sirius lightly in the arm. "I should have known since you didn't have anyone stuck to your side."

I felt my smile drop. I knew Alice didn't mean anything by it. She especially didn't mean for it to affect me, but the thought of Sirius constantly with other girls still made my stomach churn.

"Alice, Alice, Alice. I'm not sure I like what you're insinuating." Sirius gave her his cheekiest grin.

"It's not insinuating if it's true."

"Anyway, back to the talk." James threw a glance in my direction as he steered the conversation onto something else. I smiled thankfully at him before setting my attention back to Sirius.

"So, with how you both impressed us. We were thinking you could help us out." Sirius' eyes glimmered mischievously.

"I don't think I'm going to like the sound of this." I finally spoke up, drawing everyone's attention onto me.

"Come on, Jules. It'll be fun." Sirius was still slowly walking backwards at a slow pace.

"I thought I told you it was Juliet."

"I thought we were friends." He dared me to challenge him. And after the agreement we made, I knew there was nothing I could say to stop him from using that name. Even if the sound of it of his tongue sent shivers down my spine. I knew I had to just live with it.

I put my hands up in surrender, causing his grin to grow even wider, if that was even possible.

"So what's this plan you have." Alice spoke as though she had heard it all before.

Sirius flashed her a grin before stopping in front of us, causing us all to stop. He huddled everyone together so that he could whisper his plan to us.

* * *

After finally getting the putrid smell of dragon dung out of our hair, Alice, Remus and I settled down in the library to try and catch me up with as much of my work as possible. That in itself was becoming a difficult task. It seemed that I was actually a bit more behind than I had thought possible.

Catching up on my work was only made bearable because it meant there was no chance of bumping into Sirius. Him and James had been banned from the library back in their first year for a prank that went wrong. I was yet to find out details of that.

"These are the basics. It's not that hard." Alice murmured as she rubbed her eyes with her palms.

"Yeah, I'm not too great at Transfiguration. I got the grade by the skin of my teeth." I shrugged as I dropped my head onto the table. "My dad hired me a tutor."

"I think you need him to do the same again." Alice started rooting through the books that were on the table.

"Sirius or James could probably help you." Remus spoke casually, not lifting his eyes from his book. "They are top of the class."

"I don't think so." My head shot up to look at him as I tried to figure out if he was actually being serious. "The last thing I need is to spend any time alone with Sirius."

"Why don't you just drop it?" Alice asked as she handed me a stack of notes to read through.

"I need to pass it to be an aura. I don't want to have to rely on my dad to get me a place." I let out a small sigh. "He got in on his own, I don't want him making any special privileges for me."

"Well in that case, you only have one choice." Remus finally put his book down to look at me. "Sirius or James?"

I grumbled under my breath which caused Alice to laugh at me.

"Juliet, I get why you want to avoid him, but if there is one thing I've learnt about Sirius it's that you can't just cut him out of your life." Remus' voice was soft, his eyes warm and his smile was small. "He has a lot of flaws, but he is fiercely loyal and he'll do anything for the people he cares about. He might not be in your life how you want him to be, but having him in your life is worth it. Besides, he cares about you, he won't let you just ignore him."

My eyebrows shot up at the thought of Sirius talking about me to his friends. My stomach started twisting itself in knots at the thought.

"He's is right." Alice leant back in her chair as she agreed with Remus. "Sirius is rubbish to get romantically involved with, but he's one of the best friends you could ask for."

I glanced up from Alice and scanned the almost empty library as I thought about what the pair of them had said. Thankfully, everyone was still making the most out of the warm weather and studying outside. There were only two other tables occupied, the one beside ours was occupied by a few girls from another house, and there was one boy sat at the other one.

The boy seemed more familiar every time my eyes landed on him, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out where I may have seen him. I found myself staring at him, trying to work it out, when his eyes shot up to meet mine. His grey, emotionless eyes, the exact same I saw on Sirius. Furrowing my brows, I pulled my eyes away from him, looking back down at the piece of parchment I was writing on.

It wasn't until I was entirely sure that he wasn't looking at me until I turned to Alice.

"Who's that?" I whispered as quiet as possible as I indicated who I was talking about with a nod of my head.

Alice turned to look over her shoulder, only looking for a short moment before she turned back to me. "That's Regulus, Sirius' brother." She managed to get her voice even quieter than mine.

"Brother?" I was unable to hide my shock as I turned to look at the boy again. "Sirius never said."

Alice placed her quill down and leant in towards me, leaning her elbows on the table in front of her. "They don't talk to each other." Her voice seemed to get even quieter, if that was even possible.

"Why?"

Curiosity got the better of me. How could Sirius go two months without even mentioning that he had a brother. In fact, he went the whole two months without talking about any of his family. Any time I had asked him about them he'd avoid it.

"Jules, it's not my story to tell." The tone in her voice was final. "Besides, even if I wanted to tell you, I couldn't. I don't know the details. No one does. Sirius keeps his personal life very private. Most of it anyway." She cringed as soon as she had finished speaking, it was as though she had said something she hadn't meant to.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Alice was shaking her head at me. "Just forget I said-"

A squeal from the table beside us cut Alice off. We both turned to look at the girls at the same time.

"Black?" One of the girls asked, obviously not worrying about keeping her voice quiet.

"How many other Sirius' do you know?" The second girl giggled, the other one following suit shortly after.

The mention of his name peaked my interest, my stomach tying itself in a knot. I couldn't think of more than one reason that two girls would be talking and giggling about someone like that. My heart was suddenly in my throat.

The giggling continued for a good minute before either of the girls spoke again. "When are you meeting him?"

"Tonight, in the astronomy tower."

Remus waved his hand in front of my face drawing my attention back to him. "But dwelling on anything like that isn't going to make anything any easier."

"I think the more I see of this, the less it'll bother me." I mused more to myself then the others.

"Well you chose the right guy to try and get over then. It should be easy enough if you're going by that tactic."

Lily stormed in, looking around before her eyes settled on our table. Her cheeks matched the colour of her hair and her eyebrows furrowed further as she stormed over to us, taking the seat next to me, cutting off any reply I had for Remus.

"What's he done now?" Alice picked up her quill up and wrote something down on a piece of parchment.

Fuming, Lily balled her hands into fists. "He got into the dormitory!" She threw her hands up in the air but she made sure her voice was no louder than a whisper. "And spread rose petals everywhere."

"What do you mean by everywhere?" Remus asked as he looked at the fuming redhead.

"Everywhere." Lily dropped her head into her hands. "There's three inches of them over every surface. And suspended in the air are petals spelling out 'Will you go on a date with me?'"

Alice's head was the next to shoot up and turn to Lily. "Hang on. What do you mean by he got into the dormitory?"

"Well it's not going to be anyone else, is it?" Lily's voice was gradually getting louder, drawing the attention of others at the surrounding tables.

With absolutely no idea who they were talking about, I chose to take a back seat and listen instead. Personally, I didn't think what she was saying seemed that bad. Wouldn't any girl enjoy having a boy go to that sort of effort to get their attention?

"He can't get up the stairs, Lily." Alice pointed out, causing my mind to wonder whether there was anyone in the school who couldn't walk or climb stairs. No one that I had seen came to my mind.

Remus looked away from the girls, suddenly finding his book more interesting again.

Lifting her head up, Lily's eyes narrowed towards Alice. "So he got a girl to do it. Or he found some loophole. I don't know, Lice. All I know is I want it all to stop."

"Potter has been after you for as long as I can remember. He's not just going to stop now." Alice sang with a grin. "Besides, you can't say you don't like the attention."

A sound of recognition escaped from my lips before I could stop it and suddenly both pairs of eyes were boring into me. I could feel my cheeks heat up under their gaze. Embarrassed, I cleared my throat. "Sorry. I just didn't realise who you were on about. Why don't you just tell him to stop? He doesn't seem that unreasonable."

The two girls let out a trill of laughter whilst Remus stayed silent behind his book.

"He's been doing this for the last six years." Alice explained, her eyes dancing as she spoke.

Lily just grimaced. "And he definitely isn't unreasonable. I've tried telling him to stop but the fool won't take no as an answer." She massaged her scalp gently as she looked between Remus and Alice.

"I have to see this." Alice packed up her stuff and went to leave with Lily. "You coming, Jules?"

"I should probably stay and try to understand some of this." I pointed to the notes.

Before the other girls got even a foot away from the table Lily stopped and turned back around. "Come on Remus. I need you to pass on a message to Potter."

"I should have expected that." Remus muttered to me under his breath. He quickly packed his things up and caught up with the girls leaving me on my own to try and focus on my work.

"He really isn't worth your time." A voice came from behind me causing me to jump. I looked up in time to find Regulus pulling up the seat beside me.

"I beg your pardon?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Sirius. You really should forget about him." Regulus' voice was gruff and he had Sirius' eyes. Only Regulus' weren't bright with life like his brothers. There was something almost dark about him, but the small small on his face was kind and sweet.

"Did nobody teach you that it's rude to listen in to other peoples conversations?" My voice was raising slightly at the audacity of the boy eavesdropping.

"If you didn't want anyone listening you really should learn to keep your voice down." There was a twinkle in his eye for a split second before it disappeared again.

"That still isn't an excuse to butt in on someone else's business." I grumbled as I packed everything away in my bag.

"Okay, I apologise." He raised his hands up in surrender. "Let me start over. I'm Regulus." He held his hand out for me to shake.

I looked at it dubiously.

"Oh come on, I don't bite." Regulus rolled his eyes.

"Juliet." I gently took his cold hand for a moment before pulling away.

"Oh." Something shone brightly in Regulus' eyes for a moment as realisation sunk in. "You're the girl Sirius met over the holidays? I thought you were supposed to be a muggle?"

My mouth dropped open slightly before I manage to regain my composure. "You know about me?"

"Sirius wrote me a letter telling me all about a muggle he was seeing." Regulus shrugged as if it was no big deal. "I did assume it was a lie so he could get to mother."

My heart sunk. Had the whole 'relationship' just been a reason for him to get one up on his family. The family that it was slowly becoming clear that he didn't talk to. I forced a smile on my face as I look up at Regulus.

"He didn't know I was a witch." I admitted quietly.

"That makes more sense." Regulus thought out loud. "And now he just wants to be friends?" He asked as though he already knew.

I nodded at him and stood up to leave.

"Juliet, my brother is very predictable when it comes to dating." Regulus walked beside me as we made our way out of the library. "He doesn't do it unless there's something in it for him."

"That wasn't why he stuck around." I shook my head not wanting to believe hi when, in fact, everything he was saying was making perfect sense.

"Was it not?" Regulus kept his face neutral so I couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Has he shown any interest in you since he found out you were a witch?"

My heart lurched. "Well, no, but-"

"I'm sorry Juliet. It was only a matter of time before he showed you his true colours." Regulus looked at me with pity in his eyes. "Surely it's better to hear it from me now instead of months down the line?"

"I guess." I mumbled avoiding looking at Sirius younger brother. "I best be off. I have, um." I trailed off.

"I'll see you around, Juliet." He flashed another small smile before he headed off in the direction of the dungeons. I think.

As I walked back to the common room I couldn't stop my mind from drifting back to what Regulus had said. Was he really right about Sirius? Everything he had said would explain why Sirius had been acting the way he did. I thought back to every time Sirius had brushed me off whenever I brought up his family and finally understood why. I was just a pawn in his feud with them.

When I got to the common room I headed straight up to the dormitory, ignoring the calls from Alice and Lily. I couldn't face them right then. I needed to process the fact that the last two months of my life had in fact been a lie.

As soon as I made it to my bed and drew the curtains I finally let the tears fall.


	5. Our Little Secret

**A/N: Thank you to boisl001, Wikked and my guest reviewer for your lovely words of encouragement. If you could see the goofy smile I get on my face when I read them ...**

 **And to all you lovely new followers. I'm glad you're enjoying this and hope you continuing doing so in the many chapters to come.**

 **I will be attempting to update this once a week, between Wednesday and Friday. I have been finding a lot of time to sit down and write at the moment so it all depends on my little nipper when the updates will be up. I have the next three chapters more or less sorted, they just need a little edit. Plenty more to come :)**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter. A little bit of Regulus for everyone :) Let me know what you think..**

"IT IS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN!" Lily's voice echoed throughout the entire common room let the following evening. Her face was almost as red as her hair, her fists clenched together so tight that they were white as she squared up to James. "YOU ARE A SELF-ABSORBED, ARROGANT TOAD! I NEVER HAVE BEEN, NOR WILL I EVER BE, INTERESTED! IN! YOU!" As she shouted the her last word she prodded James in his chest.

It turned out James really was very persistent in his chase of Lily, and she didn't appreciate anything that he did. I don't know what it was that she didn't like about him. From what I had seen he was kind, funny and loyal. I'd never even caught him looking in another girls direction. Yet for some reason they had arguments like this every other day.

I say they have arguments, but it's more Lily's arguments with James. He could say hi to her in the corridor and she'd find a reason to kick off at him. She did not like any of his attempts to woo her, even if every other girl in the world would love to have that sort of attention.

"Calm down, Lily." James put his hands up in surrender. The usual cheeky grin that was on his face was missing leaving his lips pressed together tightly.

"NO I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" Her eyes narrowed as she took a step towards him. "NOT UNTIL YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!"

By this point the entire common room had gone silent and every set of eyes was set on them. It was like our very own version of _Days Of Our Lives_.

I didn't think it was possible, but James' shoulders seemed to droop even more than they already were. It was like his whole body just deflated with every word Lily said.

"I think I've got the message." He grumbled, his voice barely audible.

Behind him, Sirius sat at a table, sniggering at the altercation. It was as though he couldn't see the distress on his friends face. He couldn't see just how much any of it was getting to him. Not that it surprised me.

Lily spun around on her heel and stormed up to the dormitory leaving James staring at the spot she had just left.

"There are plenty more fish in the sea, Prongs." Sirius draped his arm over James' shoulders and steered him towards the sofas we were all sat on. "You're not missing out on much there anyway."

"You'd think that after six years you would have actually got to know her a bit." Alice spoke, not removing her eyes from the game of chess she was playing with Peter.

"Why would I want to?" Sirius scoffed. "Not whilst she has that stick shoved so far up her-"

"Can you stop!" James snapped.

"Don't let some silly girl get to you like this." Sirius wasn't even bothering to hide his exasperation at the situation. "This has been going on for far too long. Just forget about her. I can introduce you to a few girls." He said as he waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

I couldn't help but groan inwardly as I looked between the two of them. "Just give her some space, James. I'm sure she'll come around." I cut in, relieved when James perked up the tiniest amount.

"And what would you know?" Sirius snapped at me. "You've known her for what, two weeks?"

I had never heard Sirius sound so cold and harsh and I found myself recoiling at the sound of him. The way he was glaring at me made me what to cower away from him. With knots tying in my stomach I fought against what I wanted to do and continued looking him in the eye.

"And you've known James for six years but you can't see that he doesn't want to hear you slag Lily off!" I bit back.

It was the first time we'd spoken since Sirius had dragged us into when of his pranks. He had done a very good job at making sure we were never around each other for long enough to actually have a conversation.

That, or he'd have someone attached to him so I'd disappear into the library.

"I'm just telling him what he needs to hear." Sirius' face was filled with a rage I never thought was capable of him. Every time he spoke to me as though I was the dirt in his foot I felt myself getting more and more angry.

"And trying to turn him into you is what he needs?" I spat with more venom in my voice than I had thought possible. "James is a better man than you will ever be!" I turned from Sirius, who was staring at me with wide eyes, to James. "She will get over whatever her problem is. Just give everything a break and do what she asks. She'll soon miss your presence. Sleeping around is not the answer, despite what your _dog_ seems to think."

My eyes darted back to Sirius who was glowering at me but it did nothing to make me back down. I didn't give two flying fucks any more. As far as I was concerned he needed to know what he was doing. No one had ever treated me the way he had, and there was no way in hell I was going to let him keep it up without having my say.

A bark of laughter came from Sirius and it was his turn to be the object of everyone's attention.

"Sweetheart, you weren't calling me a dog when you were spending everyday with me over the holidays." There was a malicious gleam in his eye that I hadn't expected to see there. He wanted to get to me the only way he knew how.

There was a sharp pain in my heart as he reminded me, once again, that he really is a completely different person. Rather than letting the hurt get the better of me I shook my head as I smiled at him.

"It turns out you're a pretty good actor. You definitely aren't the man I thought you were. You're just a silly little boy who plays silly little games."

Sirius stood up, sending his chair toppling over behind him.

"Guys! Stop it!" Alice snapped. The sound of her voice shocked me. It was the first time I hadn't heard the usual lilt to it. She was suddenly stood up in front of Sirius with her hand on his chest to push him back to his chair.

"You're not a part of this group, Juliet." He snarled as he emphasized every syllabus of my name. His eyes were completely emotionless now. He just looked bored as he watched me over Alice's shoulder. "What makes you think James even wants your advice. You can't just come waltzing in and ruin the balance of everything!"

I couldn't stop the disbelief from showing on my face. That was obvious from the smirk on his face. I slowly looked around at the rest of the group, hoping that someone would come to my defence but it didn't happen.

James was still looking forlorn at the door Lily had left. He can't have been paying any attention to us, despite the volume of our disagreement. Peter was staring at his hands, awkwardly avoiding my gaze. Marlene had an awful smirk on her face telling me this was exactly what she wanted.

And Alice. Well, I'm not sure what Alice was saying but by this point she'd shove Sirius backwards and was having a stern word with him.

I got up from my seat and left the common room without even a glance back. The whole way out I could feel the intense burn of Sirius' eyes on my back so I kept my head up.

Alice called out for me to wait but I kept walking. After I ignored her she called out for James a few times but I was out of earshot by the time I would have heard what she wanted him for.

It wasn't until I got out of the common room and into the library that I dropped my facade. I slumped into a chair at the very back of the library and buried my head in my hands.

No matter how much I thought about it all, I couldn't figure out what I had done to ruffle Sirius' feathers so much. Could I really have done anything that was so bad that I deserved what he was doing?

I scrunched my eyes shut and pressed the palm of my hands to them. All I wanted to do was cry and let it all out, but all I could think about was how it would mean he had won.

"It can't be that bad." A voice that was all to familiar with Sirius' spoke softly from beside me. I listened as he pulled up a chair and took a seat but refused to move my hands.

"Regulus." I sniffled before taking a few deep breaths. One, two, three. Finally, I removed my hands and glanced at the younger boy to find him searching my face for something.

His eyes were exactly like Sirius' this time. Cold and completely devoid of all emotion. The sight of them caused a pit to grow at the pit of my stomach. The more I looked at them, the more I craved the warm, open eyes I had grown so used to.

"What did he do this time?" He moved his hair out of his face, an action that reminded me completely of Sirius.

"How about we talk about something else." I suggested as I looked him up and down. I had no idea what exactly I was looking for, but there was something different about him. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

"Like what?" He was almost mocking me as I spoke, like he knew I wouldn't come up with anything.

When I shrugged at him he let out a small chuckle. The sound shocked me. It was the first time I'd heard any sort of laugh come from his mouth and it was the last thing I expected. It was as though he was so controlling of himself that he even controlled how he laughed. I felt my eyebrow raise at him slightly.

"What?"

"Nothing." I turned to attention to the very interesting bookshelf behind him.

The silence between us grew for a moment whilst Regulus racked his brain for something to say. For a moment it was as though he was debating something with himself.

"How about we head somewhere else?" He raised his eyes back to meet mine and he stood up. He stood in silence as he waited for me to answer.

"Sure." I murmured as I stood up to follow him. "Where?"

"Somewhere I think you need more than I do." His voice was warmer than I'd ever heard it.

I followed him out of the library and couldn't stop myself from mentally taking note of everything about him. I found myself comparing him to Sirius. I finally noticed all the differences between them.

Even though Sirius definitely presented himself as though he had been brought up in a noble, wealthy family there was something relaxed about him that Regulus just didn't have. He walked with a stiffness that made him look uncomfortable.

It wasn't until we got to the grounds that either of us said anything to one another. Surprisingly the silence wasn't awkward or overbearing this time.

"So, are you going to tell me where we're going yet?" I asked as I almost ran to keep up with his pace. He headed towards the forest and I couldn't help but wonder why we were going there. What was in there that I needed? Was he going to leave me there to get eaten by one of the many creatures I'd heard about living in there?

"You'll see in a minute." Regulus' voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "It's not that much further."

Not letting any of my previous thoughts re-enter my mind, I followed Regulus the rest of the way in silence. I wasn't going to get very far here if I didn't give people the benefit of the doubt. Besides, Sirius had made it quite clear I wasn't a part of 'his group'. Maybe Regulus would be the friend I needed.

He was right, it wasn't long before we got to where he was taking me. As I looked around I couldn't believe my eyes. It was amazing.

"Wow." I gasped as I turned around, trying to take everything in.

It was beautiful. The trees around the clearing acted as a sort of barrier from the outside world, blocking everything and everyone out. The grass was brightest green I had ever seen, the light from above only making it seem brighter. Bright, wild flowers were scattered throughout the grass giving even more colour to the area.

The place was magical. You could hear the creatures of the forest scattering around in the darkness but couldn't see a thing. It was like I had been transported to somewhere far away from Hogwarts.

My eyes drifted to Regulus who was watching my reaction. His eyes were intense, his lips pressed together in a tight line. It was as though he was always on edge.

"Can you do me a favour and keep this place to yourself?" Regulus was polite, his voice was regulated as he spoke. "I don't want the whole school finding out about it."

"It'll be our little secret. How did you find this place anyway?" I whispered as I slowly walked around the clearing. The more he stared at me, the more uncomfortable I felt.

"I stumbled across it a few years ago." He finally moved his scrutinizing gaze from me and it was like I could suddenly breath again. "It's where I come to think. With the amount of time you seem to spend in the library I thought you could probably use it."

"You'd only know that if you spent just as much time there." I raised my eyebrow as I took a seat against a tree.

Some of the tension finally left Regulus' shoulders as he took one last look around us before he finally came and sat beside me.

"I'll give you that." The corner of his lips twitched the smallest amount. "So, are you going to tell me why you were moping in the library on your own?"

"I wasn't moping." I quickly retorted. Even in my own mind it was a bit too quickly.

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Regulus finally smiled. It was only a small smile, but it was a smile nonetheless. He started scratching the inside of his left forearm as he looked up at the sky. "What did he do this time?"

"Nothing." I lied, not wanting to go into my private life with someone I barely knew. "I just needed a change of environment."

"Well, I'm glad I could be of assistance then." Regulus joked. It felt like it was the first time he'd even cracked any sort of joke. Like he was starting to let himself relax a little bit. "Seriously though, what happened?"

His eyes were warm and full of concern and suddenly I felt like I could tell him all of my problems. Maybe if I spoke to him I could actually get some answers as to why Sirius was being the way he was. Surely no one would know him better than his own brother.

"I'll tell you on one condition."

Regulus' eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"You have to tell me the deal between you and Sirius." I let my curiosity get the better of me.

With a small smile Regulus nodded. "Fine."

Regulus sat in complete silence as I explained what had happened earlier on in the common room. It was nice to finally be able to talk and not have to think about what I was saying first. I finally finished my story and he still didn't say anything. Instead he just looked up at the sky as he thought it over.

"I just don't get what I've done to make him go so cold." I sighed as I let myself fall backwards onto the grass. "It's like he's a completely different person to the one I knew."

"Sirius is," Regulus went silent, once again searching his brain for the right words. "He's complicated. I can't even begin to tell you what goes on in that thick skull of his because I don't even understand what goes on there myself."

"Tell me about it." I shut my eyes to stop the sun from blinding me, spots of light spilling through my eyelids. "He's just so extreme about it all."

"Have you told him about the conversation we had before?" I could feel Regulus' gaze on me so I just shook my head. "That can't be the reason then."

"Enough about my problems." I changed the topic, not wanting to go into the depths of Sirius' mind. "Your turn."

This time it was Regulus who sighed. It was obvious that he didn't actually want to talk about his relationship with his brother. That just made me even more curious.

"Growing up wasn't exactly easy for Sirius." His voice was soft as he thought back on his childhood. "We used to be really close. Best friends even."

I tried to picture it. Young Sirius being the good, doting big brother. It didn't come easy, but when I finally managed to I couldn't help but smile.

"He was the black sheep of the family. He didn't have the same beliefs as our parents and that meant he got the brunt of their moods at every possible chance. He was mentally and physically abused by both our mother and our father." Regulus' voice was distant. "When he left he could finally be himself without having to face any of the consequences; for most of the year anyway. He got sorted into Gryffindor which only made them worse so he basically lived at Potters from his second year."

"That doesn't explain what happened between the two of you." I spoke without thinking.

"I'll get to that if you be quiet for a moment." There was a small smile on his face as he spoke to me. It was gone almost as quickly as it appeared though. "I went along with everything my parents said. Followed their beliefs, rules and regulations. I became one of the people that Sirius had been so open about hating. The older I got, the more we didn't get along. We just drifted apart in the end I guess."

"Do you miss him?" I watched his face as he thought back on memories they shared.

"All the time." He mumbled. "But that doesn't matter any more. We both chose our paths. There's no going back now." He started rubbing his forearm nervously.

"It doesn't have to be that way. It's never too late to build that bridge." I whispered.

"Yes, it is." With that I knew it was the end of our conversation.


	6. Head Girl

**A/N: That you for all your amazing words. I am grinning like a Cheshire cat!** **We're on double digits of reviews!! :D**

 **Happy reading guys. Hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

Regulus sat with me until it was time for dinner. We spoke more about my family than anything, well my dad amyway. Since his confessions about Sirius, Regulus seemed to clam up. Not that I blamed him, it wasn't like we knew each other all that well, but it was finally nice to have someone around that hadn't fallen for Sirius' charm.

By the time I finally left and got to the common room it was nearing curfew. I'd decided against going to my last lesson or dinner, not for the lack of being hungry but more because I just didn't want to face anyone.

The thought of them all agreeing with Sirius made my stomach churn. No one liked being told they weren't wanted, and I was no different. I was just trying to fit in and it was as though Sirius was doing everything he could to make that difficult.

The common room was full of life when I stumbled through the portrait. The group of people I was slowly getting to know were all laughing amongst themselves. Sirius was stood on the arm of the sofa with his back to me. He seemed to be reciting something dramatically. At least he was in a better mood now.

Alice caught my eye and she stood up to make her way over to me. Sirius' eyes followed her, his eyebrows furrowing as they focussed on me.

"Where have you been, Jules?" Alice stood in front of me with a hand on her hip. "I looked everywhere for you!"

As I looked into her dark blue eyes I realised that she was actually worried about me. My heart swelled at the thought of her looking for me, for not agreeing with Sirius and I couldn't help but smile fondly at her.

"I just went for a walk to clear my head." I wasn't technically lying to her. I did go for a walk and I did need to clear my head. That was the only way I could think about it and not feel guilty about withholding the truth. "We must have just missed each other."

"About earlier." Alice started as she looked glanced over her shoulder at Sirius who was back to acting like a prat. "He had no right to say any of the things he did. I don't know what his problem is but he's not normally like that."

"Alice, please don't make excuses for him." I simply shrugged to downplay the whole situation. "He's the one who said those things. No one forced him to. It was all him. It just makes me realise who he really is, I guess."

"But that's not who he really is." Alice's eyes were pleading me not to write him off completely. I just gave her an apologetic smile and let her continue. "Either way, I spoke to him about it. He knows he was out of order. It won't happen again."

I chuckled humourlessly. "Why are you saying all of this? Why isn't he?" I raised my eyebrow in his direction.

"He's too stubborn to admit he's wrong." Alice admitted as she held my gaze. "We really do want you here. Sirius too."

"Yeah, as his emotional punching bag." I rolled my eyes at her, finally getting a musical laugh out of her.

"Seriously, he's just too damn dramatic. He makes everything a bigger deal than it actually is." The desperation had left her eyes and was replaced by the usual sparkle.

"Oh believe me, I know." I laughed, relieved of any tension I had felt when I had left the group earlier in the day.

In the end I decided against joining Alice and the others for the evening, favouring instead a nice quiet night in bed with a book. I said goodnight to Alice and made my way to the girls dormitory. I hadn't even reached the bottom of the stairs when heavy footsteps caught up with me.

"Juliet, wait." The masculine voice spoke as a hand came out to grab my wrist to spin me around.

As I came face to face with hazel eyes I couldn't help but feel bad for the boy. He looked somewhat ashamed. "What's up, James?" I made sure to keep my voice soft. The last thing I wanted was for him to feel bad about anything. None of it was his fault after all.

"I wanted to apologise for earlier." His voice was almost timid. This was a side of James I had never seen. The normal happy-go-lucky, loving life boy was gone a replaced with this embarrassed, guilty boy.

"Don't." I shook my head at him and gave him my most winning smile. "You have nothing to be sorry about."

"I do. You were just trying to help and I let him rip into you like that." He rubbed the back of his neck before moving his hand up to mess his hair up. Not that he needed to, it seemed to stand out in every direction.

"I don't get what it is about you lot but you always seem to take responsibility for his actions." I turned to look at Sirius to find him looking at me. There was something, warm about the way he was watching me and James but that changed the second he caught my eye, his whole demeanour turning icy. "He's big enough and ugly enough to take responsibility of his own actions. It's about time you all realised that."

"I'm not apologising for him." James laughed. "Believe me, he'd kill me if he thought I was doing that. I just could have done more."

"Well unless you have access to a time turner I don't think there's any reason to dwell on it." I gave him a small smile. "But if it happens again I might not be so lenient." I winked at him and turned around to head upstairs.

"Wait, about what you said." Unless I was mistaken I could swear I could hear the nerves in his voice. I turned around, staying on the bottom step, which brought me closer to James' height.

"About Lily?" I couldn't stop the smile from spreading even further across my face. He really was hopelessly in love with her.

"Do you really think leaving her alone will work?" His eyes darted up the stairs to the girls dormitory.

I let out a small sigh which brought his attention back to me. "Yes I do. She doesn't need all your public declarations of love. Let her see that you've grown, that you're not the same person she seems thinks you are. Make her miss you, because she will."

"How do you know?" His eyes reminded me of a puppy; pleading and sad.

"Call it girls intuition." I said with a shrug. "Any girl would love to have the attention you give to Lily. I just thinks she takes it for granted at the moment."

"So, just give her some space?" The more we spoke, the more he seemed to be going back to his usual ways. The smile on his face reappeared and his eyes were full of hope.

"Just give her some space." I nodded, hoping that all my advice would pay off in the end.

"Thanks, Jules." He flashed me a charming grin before heading back to the group.

"Anytime." I mumbled under my breath as I climbed up the stairs.

As though on autopilot I made my way straight to my bed and stripped out of my robes and into my short shorts and vest top I wear for bed. I sang the song Jolene quietly as I went along with my nightly routine.

"You like Dolly Parton?" A quiet voice from one of the beds made me jump. This only brought on a small, delicate laugh.

"Who doesn't?" I turned to face Lily to find her sitting on her bed with a book in her lap. It looked like she had the same idea as I did.

"You'd be surprised within the wizarding community." Her voice didn't get any louder as she shut her book. "You can sing."

A blush spread through my cheeks at the compliment. Not many people out of my family had ever heard me sing. I just found everyone too judgemental so tended not to do it.

"Thanks." I forced out, trying to brush it off as casually as I could.

An awkward silence washed over us as I dug through my bed side table to look for the book I was reading. As I sat down I noticed Lily still hadn't taken her eyes off of me.

"Have you been up here all afternoon?" I smoothed out the creases in my comforter.

"Yeah." Lily sighed. "I just can't handle the public humiliation any more. Just when I think he can't get any worse he goes and proves me wrong."

"I don't think he's trying to humiliate you." I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "He really did seem cut up about the whole situation."

"Then why does he keep doing it?" Lily let herself fall backwards with her arms spread out above her head.

"He's trying to tell you how he feels, Lily." As I watched her I couldn't help but smile at her. Thankfully she couldn't see me.

"But I don't want him to. I don't even like the guy!"

"Have you given yourself a chance to like him?" I asked, unsure why I was suddenly trying to play matchmaker. "Have you tried to get to know him?"

"Of course I know him." Lily pushed herself up so she was looking at me with furrowed eyebrows. "He's an arrogant, self-centred bully. There's nothing there to like."

"But he's not self-centred. From what I've seen his world pretty much revolves around you." I smiled at Lily as she scowled at me. "Arrogant, maybe, but self-centred? Definitely not."

"No offence, but you don't really know him." Lily grumbled as she looked away from me. "You don't know some of the things he's done."

I pushed myself up onto my knees. "Are you trying to tell me people can't change?"

Lily's eyes instantly darted back to mine. She seemed slightly taken aback. "Of course not!"

The door swung open and Marlene sauntered in carrying a plate of food. Her face dropped slightly at the sight of me but lit up again as she handed Lily the plate.

"What about Sirius?" Lily continued as if Marlene hadn't just walked in. "You obviously have feelings for him. Are you saying he can change?"

Marlene visibly tensed up at the topic of conversation. Despite her obvious discomfort she took a seat on her bed.

My eyes automatically landed on her. This wasn't the sort of conversation I wanted to have with her around. The last thing I wanted was for her to dislike me even more than she already did, but I knew she was only staying to here what I had to say.

Lily gave me a questioning look as she waited for my answer.

A nervous laughed bubbled up my throat. "No. I let myself fall for a lost cause."

Lily let out a small laugh and it looked as though Marlene relaxed a little bit, her shoulders were nowhere near as tense as when she first noticed me.

The two of us were never going to be best friends, I wasn't stupid enough to think that, but we didn't have to be hostile towards each other. Maybe she could finally start being a bit more understanding of other peoples feelings.

"I'll catch up with you later, Lily." Marlene stood up making sure not to look in my direction. "I have plans with Black. Don't wait up." She winked at her friend before turning to smirk at me, and then she was gone leaving me cringing at her lack of compassion.

"Is she always so," I paused to think of the next word. I didn't want to be too harsh knowing that her and Lily were best friends.

"Inconsiderate?" Lily chuckled with a knowing look in her eyes. "It's hard to get into Marlene's good graces, but once you do she'd do anything for you. Anyone else though, she just doesn't care. She'll say what she wants, when she wants, to who she wants."

I nod at her not wanting to cut her off.

"Sirius is her kryptonite. The one person she has let hurt her more than once and she just keeps on going back. He'd finally agreed to give things a go with her at the end of last year and they spent a bit of time together over the summer. Not much as she was abroad for most of it."

My heart sank at the thought of him seeing both of us at the same time. Everything was starting to make sense. Her reason for disliking me were as clear as day.

"It's not your fault." Lily must have seen something in my face. "She should have known. She knows what he's like. You just happened to fall victim to his charms too."

"He just seemed so genuine." I confessed. "Now it's like I don't even know him. He either ignores me or tries to argue with me. He hasn't even given me a chance."

"He really isn't worth the heartache. He's just as bad, if not worse, than James." Lily's face contorted into obvious dislike. "The things they did to Sev-" She cut herself off, sadness flashing across her face.

"Who's Sev?" I'd not heard anyone mention that name before, but judging from Lily's reaction it was someone close to her.

"Someone I used to know." Was all she said and I knew not to press her any further. There was something about the way she spoke that told me that she'd tell me when she wanted me to know.

I had to keep reminding myself that these people didn't know me. I couldn't expect them to tell me everything I was curious about. There's history there that I would never be a part of, and I didn't need to be a part of. It was becoming clear that they didn't seem to know each other all that well considering how long they'd been in each others lives. Lily was dwelling on the past, and James was suffering because of it. None of them seemed to think Sirius was being himself, but maybe he'd just done a great job at making them think he wasn't this person.

I decided that I didn't need to know what these people used to be like, but it was what they were like now. Sirius USED to be kind and caring, but that shouldn't matter any more. James may have been a bully once upon a time but he had been nothing but welcoming to me. It was time I stopped listening to what everyone else said about each other and made my own decisions.

Sirius and Marlene could crack on. Regulus was proving to be a better friend than anyone. Even Lily, with the supposed stick up her ass, seemed more than nice enough.

Lily snapped me out of my thoughts by offering me half of her pumpkin pasty. It was then my stomach made the loudest noise, reminding me of just how hungry I was. I basically snatched the pasty off of her, but she was kind enough to only react with a kind, amused smile.

"Seems like I'm not the only one who couldn't face dinner." Her laugh echoed through the dormitory. There was something soothing about her laugh. It was quiet and delicate and every time the sound escaped her, her eyes lit up her whole face.

"I guess we were both trying to avoid the same group of people." I took a bite out of the pasty, savouring all the different flavours that erupted in my mouth.

"And we're supposed to be the brave ones." Lily laughed again before taking a bite out of her food. "Jules?"

"Yeah?"

"What made you first say yes to Sirius?"

I couldn't help but smile at the question. It made me wonder whether she was actually curious about me and Sirius, or if she was asking for her own personal reasons.

"He was very persistent." This time my smile was aimed at Lily. I stayed silent for a moment whilst I thought back to the first time I'd agreed to go out with him.

 _The Hope and Anchor was a nomaj punk rock pub. I'd never stepped foot in anything like it until then and I was in awe. Even the things everyone was wearing had me staring. Leather was everywhere. Big, bold make up, big boots, big hair. It wasn't my normal scene and despite the sticky floors and lingering smoke I couldn't help but fall in love with the place._

 _The atmosphere was electric. Everyone was there for one reason, and one reason only. The music. I didn't know much of the music having grown up with Elvis and Johnny Cash, but it didn't take me long to start getting a feel for the place. I even went and added a few items of clothing to my wardrobe so I didn't stand out like a sore thumb._

 _I_ _had found myself there every night for the last four nights, since I moved there. Every night before it had been nice and relaxed, the jukebox supplying the music. Saturday's, it seemed, was live music night._

 _The Police were playing there on my first Saturday there. I'd never heard of them before that, but they were pretty good._

 _There I was, standing at the bar, waiting for a drink, when I saw him enter the pub. He fit right in with that same leather jacket he was wearing the first time I'd seen him._

 _I decided against the idea to go and speak to him and had a feeling he wouldn't recognise me anyway. I definitely wasn't wearing the sort of clothes he'd seen me in before, this time donning tight black jeans, biker boots and a tight band t-shirt. I'd never actually heard of the band, Iggy Pop, in fact, I wasn't sure if it was even a band but there were a few other people wearing tops with the same name on._

 _I couldn't help myself, so I watched as his eyes scanned the room. I had no idea what he was looking for, but they stopped searchng as soon as they landed on me. A smirk immediately appeared on his mouth_ _when he realised I'd been watching him._

 _Before I knew it he had pushed his way through the crowd and was by my side, leaning casually against the bar. The smile on his face was intoxicating and I couldn't stop the smile from spreading over my face. It was that or all the alcohol I had drunk since I'd been there was finally kicking in._

 _"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise. I didn't expect to bump into you here." His voice was oozing confidence as his eyes raked over my body. "Especially looking like that."_

 _I blushed at under his lingering gaze. "You help a girl out once and suddenly you think you know her." I shook my head as I ordered another beer._

 _Sirius quickly ordered himself one, paying for them both. "One look at you the other night and I didn't need to get to know you to know this isn't your scene." His eyes sparkled as the grin on his mouth grew wider. "But I'm definitely not complaining. I was hoping I'd bump into you."_

 _"And why is that?" I raised a single eyebrow at him as I tried my best at stopping the huge smile from spreading across my face._

 _There was something about him that intrigued me. Something about him that grabbed my attention and made me want to find out everything about him. I found myself secretly happy that we'd bumped into each other._

 _"I'm taking you out tomorrow." The confidence didn't leave him for a single second and his eyes dared me to contradict him._

 _"What makes you think I even want to go out with you?"_

 _"You would have stopped talking to me by now if that were the case." And he was right._

 _"I'm just being polite." I lied weakly, neither of us believing it for one minute. "What brings you here anyway? I haven't seen you here before." I moved one of my arms of the bar and turned to face him, my fingers tapping against the bar in time to the music._

 _"How many times have you been here?" Sirius let out a bark of laughter. I watched as he threw his head back, my eyes running down his neck to his chest where his t-shirt clung tightly._

 _"Every night since I moved here?" I diverted my eyes quickly back to his, hoping he hadn't caught them trailing down._

 _"So four nights? That hardly makes you a regular, Sweetheart." He leant towards me slightly. "And you didn't think to offer me a drink for making sure you got here safe the other night?" He took another large gulp of his drink, his throat bobbing as he did. "I don't know how it is in America, but I think it's rather rude."_

 _"Oh, you do, do you?" I put on a fake British accent. A very bad, fake British accent at that. "Well I am terribly sorry."_

 _He let out a single 'HA', his eyes dancing wildly with amusement. "Never do that again! That's the worst impression I think I have ever heard." As he continued chuckling at me I couldn't help but join in._

 _"It's not that bad!" I jested, unable to stop laughing. "Would you like a cup of tea?" I tried again with a serious face, which only encouraged his laughter._

 _"What did I say?" He raised an eyebrow at me, but I could tell from the glee in his eyes and the smile on his face that he was making fun of me._

 _I put my hands up in mock surrender. My face must have been mirroring his, wide smile and bright eyes. "I'm done, I'm done."_

 _He grabbed a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket, offering me one first. When I shook my head he proceeded to light one up for himself, taking a drag before exhaling the smoke moments later. My eyes found their way to his lips as I watched the action._

 _"So, are you going to tell me your name or am I going to have to guess? I can't keep referring to you as 'the hot, American girl'." His deep, husky voice had me clinging to his every word, and the British accent just made it even more sexier. There was no denying that I found him attractive, and from the gleam in his eye he knew it._

 _"I guess I have to say thank you for the drink." I paused, taking another sip before wiping the foam from my top lip. "It's Juliet."_

 _"Well, Juliet. It's nice to finally be of acquaintance." Sirius stuck his hand out for me to shake._

 _"Do people really say that?" I laughed, but placed my hand in his anyway. The laughter died on my lips when he pulled my hand up to his mouth and gently pressed his lips to it. His eyes never moved from mine_ _during the whole process, which only added to the blush that was making its way up my face. Butterflies erupted in my stomach, fluttering around with more force with every passing moment that he had hold of my hand._

 _He flashed me a toothy grin as he let go of my hand before finally introducing himself as Sirius._

 _"Seriously?" The word came out before I even had the chance to stop myself. My hand flew up to my mouth as I cringed at myself for mocking him, if it was his name._

 _The biggest grin I had seen on his face appeared, his perfect white teeth glistening under the light at the bar. "Siriusly."_

 _I visibly cringed at his pun, not even bothering to hide it. "Did you really just?_ "

 _Sirius winked at me as he finished off his first drink. "As much as I would love to stay here in your company all night, I have a few people waiting for me." He pointed over to a table where three other boys were laughing amongst one another, one of their gaze landed on the two of us._

 _The boy with glasses pointed to his wrist, as though pointing to the time, which caused Sirius to hold his finger up to get him to wait._

 _"As you can see, they're getting a bit impatient." He moved his gaze from his friends to me, the smile on his face never faltered. "So, what I'm going to do is pick you up from here at five tomorrow."_

 _"I never agreed to go anywhere with you." I shook my head_ _, not believing the cheek of him, but the smile on my face stayed put._

 _"Just be outside at five. Either way I'm going to be there, and I'm not going to move until you turn up to come with me." He picked up his drink before turning and leaving me at the bar. He stopped and looked at me over his shoulder. "Something tells me you're not the sort of girl to leave me waiting there for hours. See you tomorrow." He sent last one wink at me before continuing on his way._

 _And with that he was gone and I didn't see him for the rest of the night._

Lily was silent the whole time I was telling her my story. By the time I had finished she was chuckling to herself.

"He didn't give me much of a choice." I commented, waiting to see what she had to say about it.

"That does sound like the sort of thing he'd do." She laughed. "Personally, I would have left him waiting."

"And if I could go back, believe me, I would leave him waiting a very very long time." I admitted as I finished off the last of the food Lily had been sharing with me.

That was the first night of many that we would spend sat up talking about our love lives. That was the night me and Lily became friends. At that moment, I didn't care what anyone else threw at me. I had Alice, Lily and Regulus and I sure as hell didn't need anyone else.

 **So, quick question. This chapter has one because I thought it would be a good bonding moment, and it filled the chapter out a bit, but do you want little flashbacks of Sirius and Juliet's summer. I'm thinking it will help paint a picture of just how different Sirius is acting with Jules, but not sure if it will break the story up too much. Let me know your thoughts if you have any. Thanks in advance. x**


	7. A Surprise Visit

**A/N: First things first, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and Happy New Year :)**

 **Everything has been very crazy for me at the moment. It was my daughters second birthday on Christmas Eve so we were sorting everything out for that. Then we went away for it and Christmas. And on top of all that she's just started nursery.**

 **All you lovely lot that have left reviews, you are what drives me to keep writing. Every time I got a review I would find time in the craziness to write, even if it was only a few paragraphs. I've tried to make this a nice long paragraph especially for all you loyal lot :)**

 **All you knew faves/follows/reviews. I just love you all.**

 **But here you are. The chapter is finally complete. I hope you all enjoy it :)**

"Darn!" I cursed as I looked at my alarm clock, unset beside me. I jumped out of bed, stumbling as I did, and rushed to the bathroom to get myself sorted for the day.

Five minutes was all I had to get ready and make a ten minute journey across the castle to get to class. And of course it was just my luck that it was Defence Against the Dark Arts. If there was one thing Professor Jacobs didn't put up with it was tardiness. And it's not like I had a valid excuse as to why I had woken up late.

With my teeth brushed, my robes thrown on and my hair shoved up in a messy bun I grabbed my bag and ran down the stairs and started on my way to lesson.

Cursing under my breath, I legged it across the common room, barely keeping a hold of my bag. As I ran out the portrait hole I crashed right into a large body, dropping my bag and its entire contents all over the floor.

Without glancing up I murmured my apology, dropping to the floor to gather my belongings.

"Just woke up?" A familiar, amused voice asked from above me. He crouched down and proceeded to help me get my things back in order.

"You figure that out from the rushing?" I rolled my eyes at James as he handed me a pile of parchment. "Thanks."

"You have your robes on backwards." The smile on his face spread wider as he pulled himself up before offering me his hand to help me up to.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I glanced down at my robes, forcing myself to believe that he was just pulling my leg. He wasn't though. I looked back to the portrait hole and to my watch, trying to figure out if I could push it to go and sort myself out.

"Sort it out on the way." James started heading in the wrong direction. "But we need to leave now if you want to make it in time."

"But you're going the wrong way." I started heading in the opposite direction to James unsure of what he was playing at.

"Juliet. You have two choices here." James' voice made me stop in my tracks and turn back to face him. My eyebrow raised as I waited for him to continue. "Go that way, in which case I'll make some excuse up as to why you're late. Or come this way and actually make it in time."

"Unless you've managed to find a way around the anti-appiration charms I really doubt that." I mumbled but it didn't stop me from considering what he had said.

As I searched his face for any signs of mischief, my feet started heading in his direction. His eyes were full of sincerity and the smile on his face was warm. Nothing stood out that he was having a laugh.

"But could you please hurry up and make your mind up. I can't cover for you if I don't get going now." James turned away from me and started down the corridor, stopping when he go to a tapestry.

I rushed to catch up with him, deciding that I couldn't assume that just because he was Sirius' friend that he was genuine. I reminded myself that James had, in fact, been nothing but pleasant to me when I first got here; and that the only reason we hadn't spoken in the last two weeks was because him and Lily were avoiding each other just as much as me and Sirius were.

It was only when James went behind the tapestry rather that down the corridor that I paused for a moment, unsure of where he was even taking me. It was only a short moment before I shook my head and followed him in, revealing a narrow sort of tunnel.

I suppressed the urge to smile as I thought about how I should have known. Between Sirius and what he'd told me about James it would have been stupid to think they didn't know every secret passage way in the castle.

"I found this one with Sirius in our second year." James explained as though he could read my mind.

"And I bet it's not the only shortcut you know."

"Of course." James looked over his shoulder, flashing me an arrogant grin; a lot like the grin you'd see on Sirius' face. "You might want to rearrange yourself unless you want everyone else to see you like that." He gestured towards my clothes.

Without a word I pulled my arms out of my sleeves, awkwardly turning my robes around in the tight passageway.

I was suddenly grateful that I bumped into James, glad that it wasn't anyone who would ridicule me for my mistake. My mind quickly drifted to Sirius and how it was only a matter of time before he was in on it, finding ways to make me feel bad about it like he had managed to everything else.

"So,." James voice cut off my train of though, "has Lily mentioned anything about me listening to what she said?" He sounded unsure of himself, and in the dim light I could swear I sore a slight tinge to the back of his neck.

"Not really." I replied honestly. He have a bad taste in friends, but I could tell he was sincere when it came to Lily. Some part of me, deep down, hoped that maybe he could change her mind about him. "I mean, she's noticed that you're not talking to her. She thinks it's just you letting her cool down after your row though."

James didn't reply, nodding instead as he took it in.

There was something about the whole situation that tugged at my heart. Here, was a boy so desperately in love that he was doing the last thing he wanted to make her happy. Then there was Lily, who was so blinded by whatever had happened in the past that she wouldn't let herself see him in a different light.

"Listen, James. Whatever you did to Sev," I paused as I recalled the name, hoping it was the right one. When he didn't make a noise I continued, "I don't know if she'll be able to get past it. You just have to be patient I guess."

"She's still using Snivellus as a reason, after all this time?" There was a sudden coldness in his voice that I had never heard in it before. I flinched slightly at the harshness of it. "After what he did she's still siding with him!"

"What happened?"

James didn't have a chance to answer me as we came out of a corridor just in time for Professor Jacobs to start ushering the class into the room. The only problem was we weren't stood with the class. We were behind him.

That's when an idea cam into my head and I pulled my wand out, smiling at James as I did. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, unable to decide whether he wanted to look at my wand or my face.

"Trust me." I whispered, the smile on my face showing just how amusing his reaction was.

I pointed my wand at his book bag before thinking _Diffindo_. His back split, causing everyone, including the teacher to turn to look at us. I managed to shove my wand up my cloak so that no one could see it.

"Miss Bryce. Mr Potter. Would you care to explain why you're late to my class?" Professor Jacobs bright blue eyes landed on me and I couldn't help but feel drawn in. I quickly shook myself out of it.

"Sorry, Sir. As you can see James has been having some trouble with his bag." I kept my voice steady as I easily lied to our good looking teacher, ignoring the odd looks the pair of us were receiving from our friends. "This must have been the fourth time that's happened on our way here." I dropped to the floor to help James pick up all his things.

"It might have something to do with Juliet not being able to repair the stupid thing properly." James retorted quickly, shooting me a glare as he pulled his own wand out of his robes to repair his bag.

The corners of my lips turned upwards as I tried not to giggle.

"Well if you pair of you could hurry up so we can get started." Professor Jacobs ordered, thankfully not thinking anything else of our lateness. He quickly took the class into the classroom and James and I got to our feet.

"Quick thinking." James said, impressed as he heading into the classroom ahead of me.

As we walked into the room we went to join the rest of the class who were stood at the back. The tables that were usually there were nowhere to be seen and everyone was stood at the back of the class. I said a quick thanks to James before heading to Lily.

The entire class was silent as we waited for Professor Jacobs to pull out sheets of paper. The entire class except Sirius and James that was.

"What do you mean you were helping her?" Sirius' raised whispers were loud enough to reach me, which meant there was no doubt about the fact that half the class were able to hear too.

My stomach dropped as I realised that I didn't even have to do anything to be dragged into Sirius' drama. Ignoring him didn't work. Avoiding him didn't work. Getting on with my life didn't work, so why was I even bothering.

James kept his voice so low, that even straining my ears wasn't enough to hear what he was saying.

"I don't care if she was late. Like that's my problem!" Sirius' voice was getting louder, despite his hushed tones as he tried to whisper to his best friend.

I chanced a look at him and was shocked to see James looking exasperated, whilst Sirius was glaring at him, angry oozing off of him.

It was getting beyond ridiculous. It was like even the mere thought of me drove him into a rage and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why.

"We all swore that we wouldn't show anyone!" He had seemed to realise his voice was getting louder and had thankfully toned it down; at least to the point where Professor Jacobs wouldn't be able to hear any more. "She's been here two minutes and you're off showing her all our tricks!"

The teacher seemed to be making one last adjustment on whatever he was going to hand out and was paying no attention to the disagreement that was going on behind him.

"When did you two decide you were friends anyway?"

James let out a laugh as he ran a hand through his hair. "Is this a new rule you've come up with? We can't talk to anyone you've fucked over? What about Marlene? Can we still talk to her?"

"You know that has nothing to do with this!" Sirius spat through gritted teeth.

The two boys had everyone's attention at this point and James' eyes drifted across the room, stopping when they landed on mine.

"Now isn't the time. We'll talk about it later." James' voice was steady and loud enough so that everyone knew the show was over. Sirius' eyes followed James gaze and they too landed on me. He gave James a knowing nod before he looked away.

Not before I saw the fire in his eyes. The rage that hid behind them, that he normally hid so well. The rage that made me want to curl up in a ball.

Instead I just lifted my chin up and acted as if nothing had happened. He wouldn't get the satisfaction of winning. He wouldn't turn everyone against me and he wasn't about to make my life hell. It was my final year of school and there was no way in hell I was about to let a toe rag like him ruin it.

I turned my attention back to Lily who gave me a small, sad smile before nudging my shoulder with her own.

"He'll get over whatever his problem is."

I appreciated Lily's attempt at making me feel better but there was no need. He was just making the whole situation so much easier to handle every time he made a fool of himself. And that really was all he was doing at the end of the day.

. "Let him act like a 2 year old. All he's doing is throwing his toys out his pram." I shrugged as though it had no effect on me. "He'll get bored eventually and find a new victim."

As I spoke I could feel eyes burning into the back of my head. There were only two people who could possibly be looking at me, and I really doubted it was James.

"Right class." Professor Jacobs started, his voice cutting everyone off instantly.

Everything about him demanded respect. The way he walked, his hands clasped together behind his back. The way he narrowed his eyes as they worked around the room, catching everyone's gaze as they did. The authority with which he spoke was enough to quieten even the biggest trouble makers.

His piercing blue eyes were enough to capture anybodies attention, and they only added to his good looks. His chiselled features always had evidence of a five o'clock shadow. His ash blonde hair was always messy upon his head, very few grey hairs were starting to appear, the only thing that showed his age. Running down his left cheek was a scar, that somehow added to his looks.

"Today I'll be pairing you up. In your pairs, you'll be working on practising a list of defensive spells, which hopefully some of you will be able to perfect." He walked towards us, removing his hands from behind his back as he did. When he reached us he handed each of us a piece of paper. "You will be working with your partners for the next few weeks as we make our way through an array of different defensive spells. I want essays from each pair explaining what defensive spells are, what each spell does and when to use it. You don't have to just use spells we cover in class. If you can think of any more then all the better."

As he handed my my piece of paper I looked at the name on the top of it and cringed inwardly before glancing over at him. It was just my luck to be paired up with one of the four I'd done an amazing job of avoiding for as long as I did.

Remus was just glancing up from his paper, smiling warmly when he met my gaze. A smile that impossible to answer back with a smile of my own.

"It'll be mainly practical today, just jot a few notes down that might help with your essays." Professor Jacobs turned to walk towards the front of the room. "Oh, and everyone is required to cast the spells silently. As many as possible anyway."

Lily leant over my shoulder to read who I was paired with.

"At least you're with the decent one." She let out a sigh and shook her head before showing me the name on the bottom of her paper.

It was as she did this that Sirius sauntered over, over-confidence oozing off of him. As he reached Lily his arm snaked around her shoulders, which he only revelled in more when she cringed away from him.

"Lily, Lily, Lily." He looked down at her with a lop-sided grin on his face. "Looks like it's your lucky day."

I scoffed as Lily shrugged away from him, shaking my head as I did. It was like every time I had the displeasure of being in his company, he managed to get more and more obnoxious each time.

Sending Lily a small, sympathetic smile, I quickly made my way to Remus, hoping to put as much space between myself and Sirius as I could. Thankfully he seemed to have the same idea and dragged Lily to the other side of the classroom, coincidently where James and his partner happened to be.

"That looks like it's going to be a barrel of laughs." Remus commented once he followed my gaze. "I'll assume we'll both end up getting an earful later on."

I finally tore my eyes away from Lily and settled them on Remus. It was the first time I'd been this close to him in a while, the dark circles under his eyes more prominent at this range.

"Tell me about it," I took one last look over at Lily and the boys and had to stifle a laugh at Lily's face when she caught my eye. She was wordlessly asking me why I was doing and why I wasn't there to save her.

Reading the list of spells we'd been given I couldn't help but feel more at ease the further down the list I got. I might not have been the best student in most lessons; I was certainly not going to be the top of class for many things, but I was more than confident with every spell we'd been given.

If there was one thing I was grateful of it was that my father's military-like boot camp didn't just make sure that I was capable of looking after myself outside of school.

"What spell do you want to start with?" Remus asked, reading down the list with the same easy smile I can only assume I had on my face.

"You choose." I shrugged, not bothered in the slightest.

As Remus read down the list one last time I found myself looking around the classroom, watching everyone getting on with the work.

There were students struggling to keep a shield up for more than a few seconds, but with practice that would surely change. Getting the shield up wordlessly was the hardest bit. I was unsurprised to see James' partner dodging out of the way of spells that where deflecting back to them thanks to James successful casting.

"Let's start from the top." Remus' husky voice grabbed my attention and I nodded at him. "Ladies first."

With a small smile I silently put a shield between Remus and myself, just in time for it to deflect the disarming charm back towards him, causing him to jump out of the way. Pulling himself up, Remus' grin wider as we continued quickly working our way down the list.

By the time we were near the end of the lesson we had managed to get all the way down the list, except one. The Patronus charm. The one that was hard enough to get a corporeal result with words, let alone without. The one spell that Remus and I both agreed to leave for next lesson.

The pair of us sat down in the corner of the room, away from everyone else who was still taking part in the practical, getting our books out so we could start writing notes down for our essay.

"Jules, where have you been hiding out lately?" The normal, warm smile was gone from Remus' face, instead he seemed to be searching my face for something.

I mirrored him, searching his face under the delusion that maybe I could tell why he was wondering. "Just the library, or the dormitory. Anywhere you lot aren't."

Remus' eyebrows knitted together as he shook his head slightly, looking around making sure no one was in ear shot. "Listen, you don't have to lie to me."

My mouth dropped open the smallest amount as I racked my brain as to how he could know. I was good enough to know no one had followed me to the clearing, and I knew Regulus wouldn't have said anything. Shaking the thought out of my head I decided he must have been on about something else. There was no way he could know. No possible, logical explanation.

Finally letting myself relax, I smiled up at Remus. "What do you mean?" I knew I was a good liar. I had to be growing up the way I did.

"I know about you spending all your time with Regulus." He whispered, this time his eyes fell on Sirius who was laughing and joking with James, leaving Lily stood on her own with a face like a slapped ass.

I opened my mouth to say something but no words came out. I knew there was absolutely no way he should know, so how did he?

My eyes drifted to Sirius, wondering if that was why he was acting the way he was towards me. If one of them knew, the rest were sure to know.

"He doesn't know." Remus was watching me, watching my reaction for any sort of tell. "But he will find out. He's already getting suspicious of me. I can't keep covering for you."

Relief washed over me and I turned my attention solely to Remus. He was trustworthy, I knew that just from looking at him. Yet, at the same time, I wasn't sure if he would let slip to Sirius. He had no loyalty to me, so why would he go out of his way to prevent something from happening.

"What do you mean? How are you covering for me?" Confusion must have been evident on my face, I wasn't even attempting to hide it by this point.

"That doesn't matter." Remus brushed the question off, answering a little too quickly if you ask me. "You need to either stop, or tell him yourself. He'll go on a mad one if he stumbles upon it."

"I don't know how you worked it out, but I'm more than capable of covering my tracks." I shrugged off his worries, not sure I really understood where they were coming from. "He's not going to find out."

"Yes, he will." His words were final. "He has ways to find out. If you won't stop it, you have to be careful."

"Of Sirius? Yeah you said." I rolled my eyes as I shook my head. There was something funny about the whole thing. What did I have to be worried about? It's not like he could possibly get any worse than what he has been, right?

"No. Of Regulus."

A laugh bubbled out of my throat, echoing throughout the room. "I have nothing to worry about there."

"He's not a good person, Juliet." Remus' eyes were pleaded at this point. Pleading with me to take him seriously. Pleading with me to be careful.

All I wanted to do at this point was to get up and leave. How could someone assume he was a bad person just because he was in a different house to us. That really was all it was.

"And how do you know that?" I snapped, not bothering to keep my voice as low as I should have. "Have you ever spent more than two minutes with him? Have you ever tried to get to know him?"

"I don't need to." Remus' managed to lower his tone even more. "I've been around these people for the last seven years. I know what they're capable of."

"And maybe they think the same about you." I fumed, struggling to keep myself calm as we sat under the watchful eye of Professor Jacobs.

Remus sighed and rested his head against the wall we were leaning against. "I'm just telling you to be careful. There could be any reason to explain why he is spending his time with you, that might get hurt in the crossfire."

"Crossfire?" I glared at him, my eyebrows furrowed together. "Oh, you mean use me to hurt Sirius? This is what I mean about you not knowing him."

The door to the classroom swung open, interrupting not only me and Remus, but the rest of the class too. Professor McGonagall walked through the class, her lips pressed together tightly, stopping when she got to Professor Jacobs desk.

She spoke softly, under her breath to our DADA teacher, both their faces grim due to whatever they were talking about. Professor Jacobs gave a brisk nod before his eyes scanned across the room, landing on Remus and myself.

We shared a curious glance with each other as Professor McGonagall made her way to us, stopping when she stood before us. We both scrambled to our feet, uneasiness washing over the both of us under the intense look she had in her eyes.

"Miss Bryce," The deputy headmaster spoke, her face not giving away anything that was going on in her head. "Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office. If you could come with me."

My heart sank at the prospect of getting called to the headmasters office, especially this early into the year. I sure as hell hadn't done anything that meant I would be in trouble. Unless they knew I had been in the forbidden forest. It couldn't be that, could it?

I picked up my bag, ignoring the 'ooh's' the rest of the class were giving me. As I passed Lily I gave her a small smile, not that it would reassure either of us.

When we had been walking for a few minutes my curiosity got the better of me and I finally spoke for the first time since I'd seen the teacher.

"Why does Dumbledore want to see me?" I tried to keep any worry out of my voice, hoping that it would stop her from seeing any signs of guilt.

"I think it's best we wait until we get to Professor Dumbledore's office." She said, emphasizing the word professor.

We both walked in silence the rest of the way, my stomach tying itself in knots the closer we got. My palms were sweaty as I clenched and unclenched them, trying to calm my nerves.

"Pear drops." McGonagall's Scottish accent filled my ears as soon as we reached a gargoyle, which at the password a staircase appeared that we both stepped onto, taking us to a door which she opened and let us both in straight away.

The first thing I saw was my dad and I couldn't stop the grin from forming on my face. All my worries suddenly disappeared as I rushed past my teacher and gave him the biggest hug I could muster. His arms wrapped themselves around my, his scent drifting into my nostrils, reminding me of home.

"What are you doing here?" I couldn't contain my joy until I pulled away and saw the look on his face.

His eyes were dull, the life seemed to have disappeared from them. The colour in his normally flushed cheeks was nowhere to be seen and he looked like he hadn't slept in a month.

The knots in my stomach returned ten fold. I had never seen him in this state, even despite the things he saw during his job. Something was wrong.

"What is it?" I tried keeping my voice even.

"Take a seat, Jules." His voice was horse when he spoke. As though he was straining to get whatever he had to say out.

I did as he said, noticing for the first time that we were alone in the office. Dad came and knelt in front of me, putting a comforting hand on my knee as he did.

"You're mum's ill, Sweetie." His dull blue eyes glistened with tears as he choked out his words. "It doesn't look good."

My mind went blank. My ears started ringing, blocking out whatever it was he was saying. The only thing I could register was his lips moving.

If he thought it looked bad it meant he'd tried everything. And if he had tried everything it meant it wasn't a magical ailment.

"What is it?" I mumbled, unable to look away from his lips.

My ears didn't need to work to know what he said, I could lip read it well enough. Shaking my head was the only thing I could do as my brain worked in overdrive to register what he was saying.

The ringing subsided.

"The doctors are doing everything they can." Dad spoke, though he sounded so far away. It was as though I was underwater or something.

"I want to see her." The tears ran freely down my cheeks as my heart tore in two. It wasn't the first time this had happened. In fact, she almost gave up the last time.

"You have to stay here." He forced his voice to fill with authority but I just shook my head at him.

"No, I need to see her. Please."

"Juliet, you will stay here and focus on your work. That's an order." He suddenly went from loving, hurting husband, to strict and official in a split second and I knew there was no getting around him. "We'll keep you updated."

I didn't say anything for the rest of the time in there. All I could do was stare at a fixed point on the wall. It had happened before and he was never this bad. It couldn't be as bad as he was saying; I'd only been gone for a month. There had to be something we could do.

I looked at my dad one last time before I stood up, turning my back on him half way through his sentence. There had to be something I could do. She wasn't going to go like this. She was too strong to be beaten by cancer.


	8. Rule One Of Being A Black

**A/N: Only a small chapter this time but I hope you enjoy it all the same. Thanks for all your support. I really do love hearing what you think of this story.**

 **I thought it was about time Juliet had a little bit of a break. No drama, just a friend helping her out :)**

I had no idea where I was going. All I knew was that I needed to get away. Get away from the broken man that I didn't recognise and everything he was talking about. The prospect of death weighing heavily over me as I ran as fast as my legs could take me away from my father.

Tears streamed down my face, blurring my vision. By this point I was running on memory alone, praying that I didn't bump into anyone I knew. I couldn't face anyone in that moment. If I was barely able to comprehend what was going on, how could I even attempt to talk to anyone about it.

Warm, brown eyes were imprinted in my brain as I thought about the one person I needed to talk to. He was, after all, there every time before. He was the one person I relied on both times mom fell ill in the past; the only person who had never let me down. He was on the opposite side of the world, living his life in Miami without me, completely oblivious to the dyer state I had got myself into.

I let my mind wander, revelling in the brief escape from my family problems as I thought about how much I needed and missed my best friend.

It was only when I got to the library door that my legs stopped, my vision still obscured by salty tears. I took in a deep breath before pushing the doors open, trying my best to ignore all the eyes that were following me as I manouvered to the furthest table from the door. The looks on everyone's faces made it clear that I definitely looked just as bad as I felt, if not worse.

I quickly, and quietly, sat down at the table, gently placing my bag on it as I started rooting through it for everything I needed. The tears didn't falter the slightest amount. They only seemed to flow faster with every passing moment. And with every passing moment my heart seemed to crumble that little bit more.

Once I had everything I needed to write a letter I glanced around the library again. Everybodies faces were distorted, but I could still hear the laughter and murmurs.

Jealousy washed over me the more I listened. They were all enjoying themselves, whispering amongst one another. The happiness that radiated off them only made my solemn mood even less manageable.

I nibbled on the end of my quill before dipping it in the ink. I didn't care if it was legible. I didn't even care if it didn't make any sense. I just needed to find a way to get everything onto paper, maybe then I could figure out a way to deal with it.

 _Joe_

 _It happened again. The cancer is back. It's bad._

 _I don't know anything else. Not that anything else even matters right now. How can he expect me to focus on anything when my own mother is dying?_

 _Everything is falling apart and I don't know what to do. I want to see her. To hug her. To find out it's all a mistake. Or maybe I can find something that will help her?_

 _I can't tell anyone. I can't have them changing the way they treat me. The way they look at me. I can't face the pity any more. I thought I'd finally got away from all of that when I moved here._

 _I need you to tell me what to do._

 _Please tell me you're still visiting over Christmas vacation? I have a feeling I'm going to need you more than ever._

 _I miss you so much._

 _Love you always,_

 _Jules_

 _xox_

I read over the letter for the third time, tears dropping onto the parchment as I got to the bottom of it.

The sound of books slamming onto my table brought me back to reality, causing me to jump out of my skin.

"I should have known it was only a matter of time before you holed yourself up in here again." Regulus' voice was deadpan, yet there was a slight scoff at the end of his words that would normally be enough to know he was joking around.

With a deep sigh, I tore my eyes away from the parchment, not bothering to wipe the tears away. There was no point, I knew it was going to be impossible for me to stop crying by this point. I'd lost my composure and wasn't sure I could shut it off any more.

Regulus was taking the seat beside me, putting himself between me and the rest of the world. It was as though he was protecting me from the world with just his presence.

"Juliet?" The softness in his voice shocked me but I know I gave no reaction to his words. "What's happened?"

I jumped as Regulus gently placed his hand on mine, moving his face slightly into my view so he could capture my attention.

My breath caught in my throat as I realised that his eyes matched his voice. Gentle with a hint of concern. Yet, his mouth rested in a slight grimace as though it wasn't easy for him to let that small sliver of emotion out.

Regulus, who was normally so cut off and in control of his emotions, was showing me a side of him I had yet to see. A side to him that, according to everyone else, didn't exist.

As I looked at him, the struggle obvious on his face, I knew Remus was wrong. I didn't have anything to worry about with Regulus. He cared about me, and was making himself uncomfortable by trying to make sure I was alright. If all I was was a way to get back at Sirius, why go through all the trouble?

"Jules?" My eyes snapped back to those grey eyes and I felt somewhat at ease. Those soft eyes were enough to soothe me enough that it finally felt like I could breath again.

"My mom." My voice cracked as I tried to speak for what felt like the first time in days. "She's ill."

It felt weird, saying it. It was as though by saying those words it really was true. That by telling someone it just clarified what was actually happening.

My head dropped into my heads and I tugged at my hair slightly, wanting nothing more than to scream and let go of everything but it wasn't the time or the place.

"What is it?" If I thought Regulus' voice was soft before, it was nothing compared to this.

His eyes searched my face whilst I did all I could to avoid looking at him. It was just as I had written in the letter. He wasn't looking at me the same.

"Cancer."

I'd never specified that my mom was a muggle before, not in front of Regulus anyway. If my blood status mattered to him he didn't let it show, which lifted a small weight off my shoulders.

Regulus simply nodded as he rubbed his forearm. He looked over his shoulder, his gaze landing on a group of students who were all eyeing me up curiously.

"First things first," Regulus' kept his gaze on the small group, not turning back to me until they all averted their gaze. "come with me."

He stood, his posture was flawless, as always. He offered his hand out to help me up, which I took despite not needing it. I let him direct me to the back of the library, finally out of view of all the other students, who obviously found my state intriguing.

Dropping my hand, Regulus stood in front of me, causing me to crane my neck as I looked up at him.

"Don't let them see you like this." Using his knuckle, he wiped away a stray tear from my cheek. "You're strong. Don't let anyone think otherwise."

I gave him a sad smile as I rubbed my eyes on the back of my hand. "It's a bit late for that." I gave a dry humourless laugh before leaning back against one of the book shelves. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with showing your emotions. You should do it more often."

"Rule one of being a Black." Regulus spoke with a slight sneer, sounding as though he was speaking from memory, rather than what he actually thought. "Don't show any signs of weakness."

Regulus seemed to withdraw away again at his words, like any show of any emotion was just that; a sign of weakness.

The more I got to know the younger Black brother, the more complex he seemed to get. It wasn't just waiting for him to relax enough around me to open up, he'd been brought up not to open up to anybody. He'd been brought up to be cold and distant. Yet, there he was struggling to be open for me. To show some sort of compassion, in the only way he knew how to.

"It's a good job I'm not a Black then, isn't it?" I tried to lighten the conversation, attempting to ignore the heaviness of my heart.

It was no use, we both knew it. I couldn't force a smile or a laugh. I couldn't pretend everything was fine. There was no way I was going to be able to just go on like normal.

I sighed and screwed my eyes shut tightly, trying to stop the tears from flowing freely.

Regulus let out a small sigh at the same time that I did. "Come here." He whispered as he pulled me against his chest, his arms wrapping around me.

That was all it took for the flood gates to open. I clung to the front of Regulus' robes, sobbing into them as he rubbed small circles on my back. His movements were stiff as he tried to comfort me, revealing that he didn't really know what he was doing.

The faint smell of flowers washed over me and I knew he'd been in our clearing before he came to the library. That, mixed with the stale scent of the potions classroom calmed me enough to compose myself. It was only then that Regulus dropped his arms and took a step back.

As I looked up at him I came face to face with the Regulus that I had grown used to. The one in control of every little thing he did. The one that wasn't looking at me with pity filling his eyes.

"I think that's a bit too much emotion from you, Mister Black." I wiped my eyes on the back of my sleeves trying, and most probably failing, to make sure I didn't have black streaks running down my face.

"I must be spending too much time around you." His voice was barely louder than a murmur. "You done?"

Despite the coldness in his voice, there was a sparkle in his eye. It was as though he could read my mind. He was making sure he didn't treat me any differently and it made me feel as though I could deal with anything life could throw at me.

I nodded at him before following him back to the table, glad for the breath of fresh air. It was as though my head was clear and I knew what I had to do.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He pushed the letter on the table towards me, glancing down at it as he did.

"All I know is Mom is ill, and Dad," I shoved the letter to Joe into my bag, under the watchful eye of Regulus. "I've never seen him so bad. He's worried, so it must be bad."

"That's all you know?" Regulus raised an incredulous eyebrow at me. "You didn't think to find out any more?"

"It's not exactly new." I shrugged, biting my thumb nail as did. "She's had it a couple of times before."

"Oh." Regulus seemed to think for a moment before fixing his eyes back on me. He sat with his right hand resting on his left forearm the whole time. "Is there nothing healers can do?"

"She wouldn't go to a healer the other times." My mind went back to the state she was in the last time; how frail and thin she got towards the end. How close she was to giving up then. "But maybe if I can find something to help her?"

I looked at Regulus expectantly, hoping he might know something I was yet to figure out. We both knew he was privy to certain magic that I wouldn't have a clue about.

He sat back in his chair, almost in the same way Sirius would, his hair falling down past his shoulders. His eyebrows furrowed together as he thought for a moment before turning back to me.

"I'll ask around." Was all he said, the tone of his voice was enough to tell me that he wasn't going to answer any questions about who he was going to be asking.

"Was that really one of your family rules?" I blurted out, saying the first thing that came into my head. The last thing I wanted was to sit in silence and stew on everything that was going on. If dad was going to force me to stay here I knew I had to at least have a conversation without breaking down.

Regulus gave me a sad smile, one that matched my mood. "Yeah. I guess it helped growing up." He mumbled, his hands were laid gently in his lap. "It's difficult for people to take advantage if you never let yourself be vulnerable around anyone."

"That's sad." I shook my head, not wanting to believe that he really was so sceptical of everyone. "Being angry or crying isn't a weakness."

"I guess that depends on who you ask. Separating myself from my emotions is probably the only thing that saved me from Sirius' upbringing."

"It's also the thing that pushed you apart." I pointed at him, a pang of sadness hitting me when I thought about the two estranged brothers. "Life's too short. You really should sort that out."

"Like I said before. It's too late for that." Something flitted across Regulus' face as he thought. His eyes seemed far away as he stared at the book shelf behind me. He quickly snapped himself out of it. "You don't know the half of it."

"He's your brother."

"He was my brother." Regulus gave me a small smile which turned into a small smirk. "It's never going to happen. Anyway, shouldn't we be doing some research? Or do you want me to leave you to Joe?"

I raised my eyebrow at him, not sure where he was going.

"It's good to see you finally getting over Sirius." His eyes sparkled mischievously which contrasted drastically with the drawl in his voice. "Love you always." His voice was mocking, making it apparent that he'd read more of my letter than I realised.

I glared at him as he stood up to gather some books for the pair of us to go through. Despite the daggers I was throwing in his direction I couldn't help but feel grateful that he was there. It was never going to be easy, dealing with mom being ill, but it might just be manageable with Regulus by my side, even if comforting me wasn't comforting himself.

He was getting me to use my head, to focus on any good I could do. That was the only way I would be able to get through this and still be sane. To focus on helping her, rather than focussing on what might happen later on down the line.

None of it stopped the heart wrenching feeling that I was going to lose her, but it stopped me from getting lost in it. It gave me the direction I needed to not lose myself along the way. Hopefully.


	9. Girls Night Gone Wrong

I looked down at my plate as I moved my fried breakfast around with my fork. It wasn't that I wasn't hungry, but as the days went by it became harder and harder to even stomach food during that first meal of the day. The normally, enticing scent of bacon and sausages did nothing but make my stomach churn.

My eyes moved upwards as I waited anxiously for the owls to arrive with the post, praying to Merlin that one of my parents had finally decided to write to me.

"Juliet!" Alice's voice snapped my attention to her. "Are you even listening?"

For the first time that morning I paid attention to what was going on around me. I was no longer alone, Alice and Lily had sat at either side of me, obviously trying to talk to me. Marlene and Dorcas were sat opposite, they too were staring at me as though I was a raving lunatic.

I shook my head as I turned back to Alice. "I was in a world of my own."

"We could tell." Lily had her usual kind smile plastered on her face. "Is everything alright? You've been a bit distant for a few days."

"I, uh," I stammered, "I'm fine. I've just been expecting an important letter."

All I wanted was to hear from one of my parents. I needed them to let me know what was going on and how Mom was doing. It had been four days since I'd seen Dad and I still hadn't heard from them.

My stomach clenched as I looked back to where the owls would be making their entrance any moment.

"Jules." Lily nudged me with her elbow but her voice remained soft. "You're doing it again."

"Sorry." I snapped my attention back to the girls, forcing myself to listen to their conversation. If I didn't want to tell them what was going on I'd have to do a better job at acting normal. I plastered my best fake smile on my face. "What were we talking about?"

"Girls night." Marlene snapped with an eye roll. "Tonight. Are you coming or not?"

"I'll probably pass." I said more to Lily and Alice than Marlene. "I really should get some work done."

Marlene let out a long breath before a satisfied smirk made its way onto her face. She wasn't even bothering to pretend that she wasn't happy about me not turning up.

"Nope." Lily was shaking her head at me. "You've spent too much time in that library."

"We're not taking no for an answer." Alice flashed me her best grin before she shared a look with Lily.

Uneasiness temporarily washed over me at the thought of not researching ways I could help my mom, but that quickly disappeared when it dawned on me that it was the perfect opportunity to show them that I wasn't as distracted as I really was. And maybe, just maybe, I could get drunk and forget all about my problems.

"Fine." I threw my hands up in the air in mock surrender, forcing out a small giggle as I did.

At that moment the post arrived in a flurry of wings. I scanned the owls looking for my own. Not that it was difficult. As soon as I saw the first blur of black I knew I had post. For the first time in days I felt hopeful that some of my questions were about to get answered.

Athena landed gracefully on my plate before she dropped a letter in my lap. I brushed my hand through her sleek, black feathers as she nipped my cheek affectionately, stealing a small smile out of me.

"Finally!" I picked up a small piece of bacon off my plate and gave it to her. "It's about time, Athena."

My good mood lasted for all of a split second, disappearing as soon as I realised the handwriting on the letter didn't belong to any of my family.

 _Jules,_

 _I know you don't want to hear this, but maybe you need to start accepting that she doesn't want help. You went through this last time and look at the state you got yourself in. There might not be anything you can do._

 _And tell them! Don't be silly and push them away. You'll need your friends around you, especially because I can't be there to deal with it with you._

 _Of course I'm staying with you at Christmas. I wouldn't miss an opportunity to see your beautiful face. I'm going to have forgotten what you look like by the time I see you again._

 _Remember to look after yourself. I know what you get like. You need to eat, no matter what! If I'm not satisfied when I see you I will be having words with these girls I've heard so much about._

 _I miss you too._

 _Love you more._

 _Joe._

My shoulders dropped as I scanned through the letter before I placed it on the table next to Athena, who was revelling in the attention she was getting from all the girls, apart from Marlene, who was scanning through _The Daily Prophet_.

A gasp of horror escaped from Marlene's mouth, her hand shooting up to cover it. She slowly moved the newspaper down, her eyes were wide, her mouth opening and closing as she struggled to find the words to say.

"What is it?" Dorcas spoke for the first time as she picked up the paper off the table, her dark eyes scanning over the page to find what it was that had Marlene seen. "Oh, Merlin."

"Four families were killed last night." Marlene was scanning the Ravenclaw table for someone as she spoke to us. "There was only one survivor and that's because they're here."

"Who is it?" Lily followed Marlene's gaze but she didn't appear to find who she was looking for.

"MacDougal." Dorcas' voice flat with know hint of emotions as she stared at the front cover of the newspaper.

"That can't be right." James chimed in revealing that he, and most likely the rest of the boys had been listening to our conversation. "Freddie's from a long line of pure-bloods."

"They haven't exactly kept it a secret that they don't agree with what Voldemort is working towards." Sirius stated, getting involved in a conversation with us in what felt like forever.

"I just assumed we'd be safe, you know?" Marlene was still staring at the Ravenclaw table, the colour had drained from her face. "Any one of our families could be next."

My stomach tied itself in a knot at the thought of my mom at home on her own; ill and defenceless. All whilst people are going around and killing people just like my family. And why? Just because we didn't mind muggles?

Athena gently nipped at my cheek again to get my attention now that everyone had stopped giving her fuss.

"I'm sure we have nothing to worry about." Remus always seemed to be the voice of reason when everyone needed it. The optimist who was always trying to give people hope when they saw none. "Freddie's dad was publicly open with his opinions on what was going on. None of our parents are."

"Remus is right." Lily agreed, trying to comfort Marlene. "And there's no reason that we would be on his radar."

"This is the first time we've known one of the families." Peter piped up from next to Sirius, his beady blue eyes landed on Marlene. "This war has suddenly become real. Even here we're not safe from being affected."

"Do you not remember what happened to Mary?" Lily snapped causing Peter to recoil slightly.

"Who's Mary?" I managed to keep my voice even, despite the internal panic that was slowly engulfing me.

"Mary MacDonald was a muggle-born in our year." Alice explained, sadness reaching her eyes as she did. "Mulciber attacked her with dark magic back in our fifth year."

This time it was my turn to gasp. "Did she...die?" I whispered the last word, trying to think back to whether I'd ever been introduced to a Mary.

"No." Dorcas' eyes seemed to grow a shade darker than her already almost black eyes. "She was really hurt thought. A month in St Mungo's and she was as good as new. Or as good as she was going to get."

"So what happened to her?" I asked as I absent-mindedly ran my fingers through Athena's jet black feathers.

I followed Lily's gaze as she turned around to look at the Slytherin table. Her gaze landed on a boy I recognised from our potions class. A boy that was laughing and joking with Regulus.

Mulciber was quite attractive. His face was chiselled, with a strong jaw line. Bright blue eyes stood out against his slightly tanned skin and dark brown cropped hair.

"Her parents pulled her out of school." Lily never once moved her green eyes from the boy who had her attention. "She didn't feel comfortable coming back whilst he was still here."

He didn't look evil. Especially as he sat there, a big grin on his face, dimples in his cheeks, whilst Regulus smirked at whatever he had said. If it wasn't for the fact that I had just been told I would never have thought the blue-eyed boy would have been capable of anything like that.

"How do you know he did it?" I didn't once take my eyes off Mulciber and Regulus.

"Everyone knows." James shrugged at the old news. "Rita Skeeter wrote an article about it."

"And they're all fine with it?" I nodded over to the Slytherins before turning to face them, my eyes instantly catching Remus' eyes.

Remus nodded and gave me a sad smile.

"They're all as bad as each other." Sirius scoffed as he glared towards the table. "Most of them just found it funny and laughed about it. I wouldn't piss on a single one of them if they were on fire."

"You can't really be trying to suggest that there isn't a single person in Slytherin that is half decent." I shook my head in disbelief. I refused to accept that Regulus had anything to do with what they were talking about.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Sirius scowled in my direction but he made sure not to meet my gaze.

He literally made my blood boil. His own brother was sat at the table in question and he refused to even acknowledge it. He was so set in thinking that every Slytherin was bad that he wouldn't even give any of them a chance. They all were!

"And I'm sure every single one of them thinks the same about you." The words came out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

"Well, then every single one of them is wrong." Sirius laughed, Peter chuckling along with him.

"Or you're just a very deluded boy." I couldn't stop myself from scowling at him as I ruffled Athena's feathers one last time before she flew off the way she came from.

Before Sirius had a chance to say anything else to me I excused myself from the table, saying goodbye to the girls as I threw my bag over my shoulder. As I walked out of the great hall I could feel Sirius' glare burning into my back but I wasn't going to let him get to me. Not once did turn back or drop my head until I was well on my way to my first lesson of the day.

By the time lessons had finished for the day I was so drained, all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and try to get an early night. Telling that to the girls, though, was out of the question. Alice was persistent, there was no way she was going to let me get out of it, especially after not being around for a few days.

It was for that reason, and that reason alone, that I found myself being dragged from the common room when everyone else was settling in for a fun evening. Alice and Lily were either side of me, as though to make sure that I didn't escape their clutches, whilst Dorcas and Marlene followed behind.

"Where are we going?" I asked, letting the two girls link their arms with mine and lead the way. "I thought we were just going to have a girls night in the dorm?"

"Who said anything about staying up there?" Marlene blew air out of her nose as she spoke to me. It was like she was forcing herself to even be part of the same conversation, finding any reason to speak to me like shit.

It was very clear that, despite the arguments and lack of time spent with Sirius, she still had a problem with me. I really didn't understand why though. It's not like I actually did anything wrong. If anything, she should have been taking whatever her problem was out on Sirius.

"Ignore her. Her and Sirius fell out again." Alice turned around to throw a stern look at Marlene. A warning look. "She'll be fine once she's got a couple of drinks in her."

I nodded in understanding, my questions answered by the one short sentence. Of course she was going to take out her problems on me. I was a perfectly good punching bag for her. Especially because she could try and blame me for all her relationship problems.

"And we can't tell you." Lily nudged me with her elbow, sending me a wink as she did. "It's a surprise, but you're going to love it."

I gave Lily a weak smile as we continued walking down to the fifth floor. As we went, Alice found herself gushing about how sweet the letter she received from her boyfriend was and how much she couldn't wait to see him. I wasn't really paying too much attention, nodding my head and making sounds of agreement at random intervals. It seemed to work as she didn't once waver from Frank.

"Here we are." Alice sang, her whole body was basically vibrating with excitement as she said the password.

The door swung open and the four girls all headed straight in whilst I stood in the doorway, taking in the entire room. To one side of the room there were toilet stalls, with nothing special about them. Every single part of the floor and walls where the whitest marble I had ever seen and there was a candle-filled chandelier that gave the room a soft glow.

In the floor, on the other side of the room was a giant, empty swimming pool, equipped with a diving board. Or what looked like a swimming pool, except it had hundreds of gold taps around the outside of it, each tap had a different colour jewel on it. To one side of the bath, or swimming pool, was a rack filled with all these different bath products, from shampoo to bath salts, to moisturiser.

That wasn't the part that grabbed my attention. It was the large, stained glass windows that I couldn't tear my eyes away from. There was a mermaid brushing her hair, looking around the bathroom, taking in each of us one at a time.

"Are you just going to stand there gawking?" Marlene snapped, yet again. "Some of us would appreciate it if you shut the door."

I stepped into the room, letting the door slam shut behind me and watched as Lily started turning certain taps on to fill the giant tub up. It wasn't just water coming out of the taps, bubbles were filling the tub too. Different coloured bubbles that were gradually creating a rainbow effect above the water.

"I am definitely not dressed for this." I gestured towards my jeans and top as I watched the other girls take their clothes off to reveal swim suits.

Alice and Lily both seemed to wear bikinis that matched their eyes. A bright blue halter-neck bikini for Alice and emerald green strapless one for Lily. Dorcas was wearing a simple black one piece. Finally, Marlene was wearing a bright red bikini, that somehow managed to make her boobs look even bigger than normal.

"Marlene." Alice basically scolded as she gave Marlene yet another warning look.

"Keep it." Marlene said, looking down her nose at me. "I definitely do not want it back once you've worn it."

The bikini landed by my feet so I quickly bent down to pick it up, silently wishing it could have been anyone else that was lending it to me. "Thank you." I grumbled, forcing myself to be polite to the girl who was made it blatantly obvious that she hated me.

I disappeared into one of the toilet stalls to change into the bikini, cleaning it before hand with a simple spell. I was surprised at how perfectly it fit, and how much the white stood out against my slightly tanned skin.

When I came out of the toilet the bath was already full and the girls were passing around a bottle of elf-made wine, each person swigging from the bottle before passing it to the next person.

"Why haven't you brought me here before?" I went and joined the other girls, sitting on the edge of the pool with my feet dangling in the warm water. "It's amazing."

"It's for prefects, head girls and boys and quidditch captains." Alice put the bottle to her lips, guzzling some of the wine down before passing it to me.

"Which means Potter has access to the room." Lily sighed with an eye roll.

"And wherever Potter goes, the rest are sure to follow." Dorcas' voice was low as she jumped into the pool with a small splash.

"And the four of them are in here a whole lot more than they'd like people to think." Alice moved to sit behind Lily and started plaiting her hair.

I took a swig out of the sweet, fruity wine. It was amazing. Taking one last, long drink before I passed the wine to Marlene, which she promptly snatched away from me.

My eyes narrowed as I glared at her. I wished she'd just disappear. How could I have a good night when she was constantly pulling faces or making snidey comments about me?

"You're welcome." I exclaimed loudly but I was only ignored.

Instead, Alice gave me a sad smile before grabbing a second bottle out of her bag. "You need something stronger?" She offered me the bottle of firewhiskey which I gladly accepted.

"Since we got the good stuff out, might as well play a little game." Marlene's voice was sickly sweet, a dead give away that she was planning something, and I would put money on that it would involve me. "You know, get to know each other a bit better."

I resisted the urge to scoff. If the others thought she was being sincere there was no way I could throw it in her face. She'd just turn the whole thing around on me and I'd be the bad guy. Again.

"Sure." I dragged the word out, making sure to match her smile with my own. "Everyone knows the rules?"

Everyone except Marlene nodded their answer. She just sat their smirking at me.

I wasn't stupid. I'd met people like Marlene before, and if she thought I didn't know her game she was mistaken. My skin was a lot thicker than she realised and it wasn't going to be that easy for her to make a fool out of me. Game or no game.

Lily pulled some small, plastic cups from Alice's bag before handing one to everyone, letting me fill them all up with the firewhiskey.

"Who's going to go first." Dorcas asked before she swam to the edge Marlene was sitting at and pulled herself up to sit next to her.

"I will." Alice grinned, her eyes shining brightly at the prospect of playing a game. "Let's start off easy, shall we? Never have I ever stolen anything from a shop."

Everyone except Lily and Dorcas took a swig of their drink before Lily took her go, followed by me, Marlene then Dorcas.

The first few rounds were pretty basic. Everyone was just trying to get everyone else to drink at this stage. Questions like whether we'd ever cheated on a test, cheated on a person, been in love, got detention; were just to name a few.

It was on Marlene's third go that she decided it was time to up the anti.

"Never have I ever," Marlene's eyes met mine, "fallen in love with someone else's boyfriend."

She raised her cup to me, as though to say cheers and I downed the rest of my drink, not once looking away from her. The firewhiskey scorched my throat but I refused to show her it bothered me.

Suddenly the door to the bathroom opened, resulting in a collection of groans coming from the other girls as they turned their attention to whoever had walked through the door. I had barely turned my head towards the door when a body crashed into me, sending my flying into the pool, the cup flying from my hand and also landing somewhere in the pool.

Water forced it's way up my nose and down my throat so when I finally emerged from beneath the water I was nothing but a spluttering mess.

Turning around in the pool, I came face to face with a bright, cheeky grin and mischievous hazel eyes. Skimming my hand through the water, I splashed as much water in his face as I could. It was impossible not to smile back at the happy-go-lucky boy.

"So much for girls night." I grumbled as I looked past James, my eyes landing on Remus, Sirius and Peter making their way over to the pool.

My heart sped up, as it always did at the sight of initial sight of Sirius. It didn't last long. The second me and my poor heart realised he was still his cold self I made sure not to waste my time dwelling on it. A quick internal pep talk was all it talk to calm myself down. He wasn't going to ever know that he still had this effect on me.

"Did you not bolt the door, Jules?" Lily sighed before taking a swig of firewhiskey. Her whole face screwed up as the liquid travelled down her throat.

"Careful, Evans." Black barked, with a laugh. "I won't be the one carrying you to bed when you pass out."

Lily rolled her eyes before holding the bottle out to me. In no time I was next to her, leaning against the side of the pool she was sitting on with the bottle of firewhiskey in one hand. The amber liquid burnt my throat as it slid down it. The burn kept me centred, yet at the same time it was like with every burn, the pain from deep within me got lesser and lesser.

"You guys are just in time!" Marlene basically screeched, everything about her changed as soon as the boys walked into the room. I was no longer on the receiving end of her death glare, instead she posed seductively, making sure her breasts were all that Sirius could keep his attention on. "We're in the middle of Never Have I Ever."

I pulled myself back out of the pool and reclaimed my spot around the pool. Thankfully James and Peter put themselves between me and Sirius. The last thing I needed was to be anywhere near Sirius and Marlene as he whispered whatever in her ear.

Before we continued the game the boys all stripped down to their swimming trunks, obviously not giving up the chance to stay and join in with our game.

"Let's get the drinks flowing, aye?" Sirius sent Alice his signature smirk as she sent drinks around for each of the boys. "Who's go is it?"

All of a sudden the whole idea of playing the game didn't sit well with me. It was one thing her trying to humiliate me in front of the girls that I'd managed to get close to, but to do so in front of Sirius was something I don't think I could face. There was so much that I hadn't told him, things that he'd never find out if it was down to me. Things that she would out me about the first chance she got if she could.

The next round of questions were fairly simple again, most of them designed to make the boys drink. Everyone was obviously giving them a chance to catch up with us before things started getting interested.

"Never have I ever, had sex with anyone in this room." Marlene's eyes darted to Sirius before landing on me to see my reaction to the question. She lifted her drink up to take a swig, keeping her gaze on me.

With a slight blush to my cheeks I quickly took a swig of my drink, Marlene's eyes darkened as I did. Thankfully, Dorcas didn't waste any time in asking her next question.

"Never have I ever been kicked out of a pub or club." Her voice was quiet and husky as she spoke. She seemed to favour looking at Remus, making it completely obvious what her feelings were.

Sirius and I both drank, much to the dismay of Marlene. The more we seemed to drink together, the more she seemed to work herself up.

I kept my attention away from that side of the pool. I wasn't about to let her ruin my night. All I needed to do was ignore her snidey remarks and not let her obvious dislike for me get to me.

"Never have I ever, had sex in this pool." James had the biggest grin on his face as he looked towards his best friend. Who, along with Marlene, both took a sip of their drinks.

"Really?" Lily cried as we all took our feet out of the pool. "You're not even meant to be in here!"

Sirius had the biggest grin on his face as he watched her reaction. "It's a natural thing!" He barked his signature laugh, the sound echoing off all the walls. "Just because you're a prude, doesn't mean we all have to be."

Lily's cheeks flushed pink, which was the only sign that she'd even heard what Sirius had said. James threw a look in Sirius direction and he put his hands up in surrender, despite the cocky grin on his face.

Remus and Pete's questions were pretty basic, but when it got to Sirius his smirk grew. As he pretended to think his eyes landed on me.

"Never have I ever, lied to my friends about why I've been avoiding them." This time it was his turn to raise his cup at me as though he was saying bottoms up.

I took a small drink, ignoring the looks everyone was giving me.

"Never have I ever, slept with someone else boyfriend." It was Marlene's go again and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Really?" I spoke before thinking, not bothering to hide my exasperation. "Is that all you're going to do all night?"

"Drink up." She wasn't even bothering to put on her sickly sweet voice any more. The venom that oozed off her was enough to make anyone flinch back. "We all know you've done it."

"What is your problem?" I snapped at Marlene. I shoved myself up and went to find my wand to dry myself off.

"You're my problem." Marlene quickly copied my actions before making her way to stand in front of me. "Ever since you got here..."

"No way!" I interrupted her. Everyone in the room was staring at me, their mouths hanging open at my sudden outburst. "I'm not going to sit here and have you blame all your problems on me when you should be looking closer to home!"

Alice and James jumped up, rushing over to where Marlene and I were standing in front of one another. Marlene, who was taller than me, looked down at me with a snarl on her lips but I did the only thing I could. Ignored it.

"Guys, come on." Alice place a hand on Marlene's hand but she immediately pulled away from her.

"Why don't you stop trying to accuse me from stealing Sirius from you!" I took a deep breath to push the nerves back down. I stared into her brown eyes, not once giving her any sign that I was at all intimidated by her. "One, he obviously isn't yours or he wouldn't be sleeping with half the girls in the school! Two, I didn't know about you, which once again makes that his problem. Three, the bloke has barely said two words to me since the beginning of the year and you're still threatened! What else can I do to show you that we aren't even friends?"

As I turned away from Marlene a sense of relief washed over me for a moment. It soon disappeared when my eyes landed on a pair of curious grey eyes. Eyes that, for the first time in a long time, weren't cold. The rage bubbled up inside me again but rather than letting it out I took a deep breath and turned away from him.

"It was just a game, Jules." Sirius barked, his voice was soft, yet I could almost hear the smirk on his lips. "You don't have to take it to heart."

"Juliet!" I corrected. My eyes snapped to his and, unless I was mistaken, Sirius flinched slightly at the action. "And you're right, I don't, but I have every right to stand up for myself when someone is going out of my way to make my life difficult. Let's stop it there though, shall we? I don't feel like getting into it with your sorry ass as well."

Alice had dragged Marlene off, and James was stood just behind me, waiting to see if he would have to drag me away from his best friend or not.

Sirius didn't once take his eyes off mine. Amusement flitted across all his features, causing the anger, that I was struggling so much to keep under control, to rise up inside me. I wasn't sure whether it was the drink, my family issues, or his arrogant demeanour had finally struck a nerve.

A bark of laughter escaped from Sirius' lips, my fists clenched together at the sound.

"You don't feel like getting into it with me?" The smirk on his face was all I needed to see to know that he was only getting involved now to try and get a rise out of me. "You act like you're above this, better than me. You're not."

Rather than brushing it off and ignoring it I bit, finally letting out all the anger I'd been holding in. "But I am, Black. I don't use people as and when it suits me. I don't go out of my way to make peoples lives miserable if they don't fit in with my life. Just because you don't have the balls to make your shitty comments to my face, it doesn't mean I can't hear you!"

"You don't use people?" Sirius laughed at me, a humourless laugh. All the amusement had left his face leaving behind a pair of dark eyes that were boring into me. He knew the effect he was having on me. We both did, yet neither did anything to prevent it. "So you weren't in a relationship when we met? You aren't still in it now?"

My mind went black. All the anger I was feeling suddenly disappeared and I was left confused as I looked at the arrogant boy. I knew the confusion was clear on my face as I racked my brain to figure out what the hell he was even going on about.

"Don't play dumb." He laughed again, once again it was empty. He tugged something out of his bag that was beside him. A letter. My letter. " I wouldn't miss an opportunity to see your beautiful face. I miss you too. Love you..." He read.

I snatched the letter out of his hand, the anger had come back ten times worse. "Joe? He's a very old friend. Nothing has, or will ever, happen between me and him. Not that I need to explain myself to you. I don't owe you anything!" I took a step forward, not bothering to hide how fuming I was. "What gives you the right to read my letters?"

"What is it you need to tell them?" He gestured to everyone else in the room and it's like I saw them for the first time. Like I'd suddenly remembered Sirius and myself weren't alone. "What are you going to need their help to get through?" His eyes were nasty, cold, almost lifeless. How could someone so full of life be like that?

"Screw you!" I snapped, tears were forming in my eyes as I looked at the hollow man I thought I once knew. I willed the tears to stay put as I thought back to what Regulus had said.

Don't let them see you cry.

I spun on my heals, picked up my things and a half empty bottle of firewhiskey and stormed out of the bathroom. I didn't care that I was just in a bikini. The only thing I could think about was that I had to get as far away from Sirius as I could. Get away from the constant reminder that he was a pig-headed idiot who enjoyed throwing his toys out of his pram.

I turned a couple of corners before slowing down and leaning against a wall, the cold brick shocking my bare skin. I took the biggest swig of firewhiskey, hoping to forget. To forget about my drama with Marlene. To forget about Sirius. To forget about my family.

 **A/N: Longest update, ever :D**

 **I know there isn't the stain glass mermaid in the books but I just liked the idea of it better than a portrait of a mermaid :)**

 **Thanks again for all the reviews/follows/faves. I love you all and love hearing what you all think of this. We have over 50 followers now!**

 **Is this the wake up call Sirius needs to sort his shit out? Will we find out why he's been acting the way he has been? Big Juliet and Sirius chapter next.**

 **Enjoy you beautiful people :)**


	10. Apologies

**A/N: Firstly, Happy Valentines day all you beautiful people! Here's a nice little gift for you all :) Also, longest chapter to date!**

 **This is the part I've been waiting for. A nice big scene between Sirius and Jules. Let me know what you think :)**

 **Also, a giant, mahoosive thank you to Wikked, Tennismaniac, Raven that flies at night and my lovely guest reviewer. I love you all and love reading what you think of each chapter. Hopefully, you'll all enjoy this one. Also a big thanks to all my followers and a big welcome to you newcomers.**

 **Happy reading :)**

The sun crept through a gap in the drapes around my bed. I grimaced as the light hit my eyes through my shut eyelids, the brightness making me all too aware of the throbbing headache I had. I covered my eyes with my arm, hoping that the headache would go away along with the light, and groaned loudly as my stomach churned.

"Lily, look who's finally decided to grace us with her presence." Alice's overly happy voice rang from my right as she pulled the curtains open and bounced onto my bed, almost taking a seat on my head.

"You alright in there?" Lily's sweet voice came from the opposite direction.

"No." My voice was raspy, as though I'd spent all night screaming at a concert or something. I turned over and buried my face in the pillow before I whimpered. The motion only made me feel worse, nausea quickly creeping up on me. "I've just been attacked by Little Miss overly happy over here."

My bed moved under the weight of someone else sitting on it. I peeked up from my pillow, only to be blinded by a mass of fiery red hair. I quickly pressed my face back into it, unable to deal with the pounding of my head when I moved.

"You were in a bit of a state when we finally found you." Alice's was obviously trying to tone it down a bit for me, but I swear her voice was still an octave higher than the average person.

It became difficult to breath as I tried to rack my brains for what had happened. The last thing I remembered was leaving the bathroom and finding a little crevice to drink in. I didn't remember seeing anyone, and the more I tried to remember, the more my head felt like it was going to split open.

"What happened?" I whispered, praying that I didn't do anything to embarrass myself. I peeled my face away from my pillow and turned to look at my fresh-faced friends.

Alice had a small grin playing on her lips. "Oh, you know. The usual. Tear a couple of people a new one, storm out of a party so your two, amazing friends have to come and find you," she winked mischievously at Lily, "only to find you absolutely bungalowed half an hour after you ran off. You sure can knock it back." Her voice was light and airy.

"Yeah, I remember firewhiskey. And lots of it." I sighed, feeling defeated. I dropped my head back to my pillow before moaning into it.

A small, delicate laugh came from Lily as she stood up from my bed and rummaging through her bedside table before returning. "Here, drink this. It should help."

"I really doubt it." I sat up anyway and took the potion from her. "They never helped all that much before."

I placed the bottle to my mouth and tipped my head back, letting the bitter potion fall down my throat. I cringed at the taste but didn't let that deter me. The headache that was threatening to split my head open dulled and as I shuffled to get comfortable, the movement didn't make my stomach churn so much.

"You were in a right state when we found you, sobbing your little heart out." Alice explained, her voice remaining as chirpy as ever.

"Of course I was." Another sigh escaped my lips as I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. I went and stood in front of the mirror to come face to face with a very red, puffy eyed face. It was all I needed to see to know that I obviously didn't stop crying until I was asleep. "That explains the eyes."

I started going through my trunk, extremely aware of both pairs of eyes following my every move. It wasn't long until I got an outfit together and threw it onto Lily's bed before plopping back down on my own between the two girls.

"What had you in such a state?" Lily shifted her weight so that she was sat cross-legged. "You kept saying it wasn't anything to do with Marlene or Sirius but we couldn't understand a word of what you were saying when you were finally ready to tell us."

"It's just, um-" I trailed off not sure whether I even wanted to say anything. My eyes darted from Lily to Alice and back again before I dropped them to my lap.

"You can trust us, Jules." Alice reassured me, not that I needed it.

I already knew I trusted them both, and that they'd both be there the best they could with it. It was just hard to talk about. When I looked into their eyes though I knew I needed to tell them. Joe was right, I was going to need them to help get through this again.

"I don't really know all the details yet." I started to explain, not lifting my eyes from my pillow at the end of my bed. "My mom is ill. She had breast cancer a few years back, ended up having a double mastectomy.."

A tap at the window interrupted me, making me jump out of my skin with a small gasp. We all turned to look at it to see Athena perched on the windowsill.

Without any hesitation I instantly got up and let my owl in, a sudden sense of anticipation washing over me. Athena instantly dropped the letter on my bed before settling next to Lily who's hand went up to stroke her in a second.

I picked up the letter and my heart dropped at the handwriting. It was the one person that I was having torn feelings about hearing from. All I wanted was for her to tell me that everything was going to be alright, yet I knew deep down that there was no chance that would happen.

My hands shook as I fumbled with the parchment, trying to open it as quickly as I could, yet dreading even the idea of reading it.

 _My Darling Juliet,_

 _I've been meaning to write this letter for weeks, at least since they first started running tests. I couldn't bring myself to do it though. At the time, I wanted so hard to believe the cancer hadn't come back and I guess I just believed that it would be real if I admitted it to you._

 _I needed to make sure I knew for sure too. I know what you're like and the last thing you needed was to worry about it if it was nothing. It would have just distracted you from your studies._

 _Your father told me about your chat. Or lack of a chat. You must be going out of your mind not knowing, and I wish more than anything that I could have put pen to paper sooner to prevent that._

 _I have stage four ovarian cancer, Sweetie but it's spread to my liver and spleen. I have an operation next week. I know you're going to want to be there but I really want you to stay there. Knuckle down and work towards your goals. I'll see if your father can sort out you coming to see me during the weekend after though. I'll let you know what he says._

 _I know that you don't want to be reading any of this, but you need to know. You need to prepare yourself that this might not work as well as last time. We might not be so lucky this time and it's more advanced._

 _I'm so proud of you, Juliet._

 _All my love_

 _Mom_

I let the letter fall down onto my lap, not bothering to wipe away the tears that were streaming down my face. All the anxieties about my mum suddenly all magnified as I reread the letter a second and third time.

Lily and Alice glanced at each other before moving slightly closer to me, Lily placing her hand on mine before giving it a small squeeze. "Take your time, Juliet."

Without a word I just handed the letter to Lily, who proceeded to quickly scan through the letter, her face dropping the smallest amount when she got to the end of it. Her eyebrows furrowed together in concentration as both Alice and I watched her.

"I'm so sorry." Lily whispered before handing the letter to Alice, who's eyebrows knitted together even more.

When Alice placed the letter down, she looked between myself and Lily, confusion ebbed on all her features. "What is-" She cut herself off when Lily sent her a warning look. A look that told her she'd explain it all later.

"You found out when McGonagall came and got you." Lily wasn't asking, she already knew the answer. It was like just by finding out about my mum she could suddenly put all the puzzle pieces together. I didn't have to explain anything to Lily, and for that I was grateful. That really was the last thing I needed to do.

I nodded, my eyesight still blurring from the tears that were a constant stream down my face. It was hard to breath, like the air had suddenly got thinner. The pain in my heart was unbearable, like someone had stuck their hand through my ribs and was squeezing at it. The pain was enough to drown out everything around me, the room, the girls.

Alice grabbed hold of my other hand and gave me a squeeze as she said my name. I'm not sure how many times she said it before I zoned back into the room and turned to look into her big blue eyes. Eyes that I was almost scared to look into.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Her eyes were warm and welcoming, not at all any different from before I had told her.

My eyes slowly drifted up to her own beautiful, bright eyes and I did the first thing that came into my hazy head. I shrugged. "I guess the more people who knew about it, the harder it would be to live a normal life here. The last thing I want is to be pitied."

"Oh, Sweetie," Lily nudged me with her shoulder and smiled at me warmly, "I already pitied you. That whole Sirius, Marlene crap. They're both really rubbish people to be on the wrong side of. That's why we became friends." Lily paused for a moment, a small smirk playing on the corner of her lips.

"Because you pitied me?" I couldn't stop the smile from slowly spreading on my face as Lily did a perfect job of showing that I was stupid for thinking that telling her would change the way she was with me, and an even better job at lightening the conversation a bit. It was just what I needed, a distraction.

"Exactly!" She leapt off the bed, and grabbed my hand before yanking me up to follow her. "Come on, you're not going to spend the day in bed." She shoved me into the bathroom, leaving only once she had turned the shower on for me.

I did as I was told and slowly slipped out of my pyjamas, which Lily and Alice must have put me in at some point. As I climbed into the shower I couldn't help but just stand there, enjoying the feeling of the scolding water cascade down my body. I envisioned it taking my hangover down the drain with it, hopefully the more I pictured it, the more it would actually happen.

I wasn't only washing my hangover away. I was washing everything away. All I wanted was one, stress free day, where I could attempt to live a normal life where I wasn't dwelling on anything. I visualised washing away all the stresses I had been feeling for weeks and decided I wasn't going to let anything ruin the day.

After washing, I was still queasy when I climbed back out of the shower and wrapped myself up in one of the fluffy, red towels. Once I was more or less dry I made my way out of the bathroom to find Lily had laid out the outfit that I'd thrown on her bed.

"It was getting creased." Lily admitted sheepishly. "And I got a bit bored once Alice left." She added with a small shrug.

I flashed her a small smile to show that it was fine before going and changing into the pretty, mint green dress that came off the shoulders with it's three quarter length sleeves. It was tight on the top half, but flared out into a skater skirt at the waist. I paused once I got to the leather jacket I had pulled out with it, holding it gingerly in my hands as I thought back to when Sirius had turned up with it. He'd had enough of me stealing his own jacket, Not that my own ever made a difference to that, it was never the cold that had me stealing it in the first place.

Taking a deep breath I threw the jacket on over the dress and stuck a pair of black pumps on. I glanced in the mirror and saw a girl I hadn't seen in a long time. It was only then, knowing that Lily and Alice knew my small secret that I felt like a load of stress had been lifted from my shoulders.

"You look good." Lily smiled warmly at me and I couldn't help but wonder why she was suddenly being so nice to me when her and Marlene were meant to be best friends.

"Thanks." I grinned back at her. "Lily? What's happened with you and Marlene?"

Lily's face drop, confusion seeping onto it as her eyebrows furrowed every so slightly. Just enough for a couple of lines to appear on her forehead.

"I'm only asking because didn't you two use to be inseparable?"

"She just didn't like that I gave you a chance, I guess." She ran her hand through her hair before pulling it all over one shoulder. "And I guess you just looked like you really needed a friend last night, so here I am." She said with a shrug.

I observed her face as my heart swelled at the thought. I really must have been in a real state last night, because here was someone who barely knew me, going out of her way to make sure I feel like she's there. I gave her a small smile as a thanks.

"Shall we head downstairs?" Lily changed the topic, swiftly avoiding any awkwardness.

With a simple nod I followed her down the stairs, the bounce in my step doing nothing for my still slightly uneasy stomach.

The common room was packed, bustling with life. There was a small group of first years crammed around a table in the corner, obviously trying to get all their work done. There were people playing exploding snap and wizard chess scattered around the room, everyone was talking animatedly to one another.

Lily stood beside me, sort of as moral support. The prospect of seeing either Marlene or Sirius after last night wasn't high on my to do list, but I knew there was absolutely no way I could avoid it forever.

It wasn't hard to find them. They were all sat where they always were; in the group of chairs closest to the fireplace. Peter and Remus were playing a game of chess, the former was losing spectacularly. Sirius was lying across the sofa, his head resting on Marlene's lap as she absent-mindedly ran her fingers through his hair. Alice was sat in the arm chair with James sat on one of the arms, the two of them reading a letter between them.

"No way!" James exclaimed as he reread the letter again. "Can you believe it? A real life giant! Little Frank is all grown up!"

"Little?" Alice giggled, as she snatched the letter out of James' hand to put in her bag. "Frank has never been little."

"You know what he means." Sirius grumbled, his eyes remaining shut tight as he enjoyed the head massage he was receiving.

James turned slightly and we must have caught his attention because the biggest grin appeared on his face. "Well, well, well," He said as I started heading towards the group, "look what the cat dragged in."

"That's a nice way of putting it." I grumbled, still not feeling one hundred percent. It only took a few strides to reach the group and I sat on the floor by Alice and James' feet, resting my head on Alice's knee.

"How are you feeling?" Alice placed a hand on my shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. The presence of it soothed the butterflies that had erupted in my stomach.

"Better than I felt half an hour ago." I tilted my head to look at Alice, giving her a small smile.

Lily chuckled as she shoved Sirius' feet off the sofa and took the seat for herself.

Sirius grumbled something under his breath as he opened his eyes to sit on the sofa normally. His eyes landed on me, running up and down my body, causing me to blush.

"You still have that?" His eyes lingered on the jacket before he looked back at my face. His voice was soft, making me feel like I was hearing it again for the first time.

I put on my best fake smile and simply nodded at him before turning away from him and to the others. "I'm going to head to the owlery for a bit." I lied, coming up with an excuse to leave so I could go and meet Regulus. That and getting away from Sirius was an added bonus.

"Do you want some company?" Lily asked which resulted in a scoff from Marlene.

"I'll be alright. Hopefully some time alone will help clear my head." I gave her a warm smile and pushed myself up off the floor. "I'll only be an hour or so."

I said my goodbyes to everyone who was worth one and made my way quickly out of the portrait hole. I had barely made it down the first corridor when I heard the portrait swing open and footsteps start following me.

 _Don't be him. Don't be him._ I found myself saying over and over to myself as I listened to the footsteps slowly get closer to me.

"Jules!" His deep voice called after me and I sighed out loud, choosing to ignore it.

I took a deep breath and sped up, hoping that there was a slight chance my little legs could carry me away from him. Or hoping that if I ignored him he'd give up. All I knew was that I had to get rid of him. There was no way I could meet Regulus with him on my tail.

"Juliet." His voice was right behind me this time and he grabbed my hand, pulling me to a stop.

As soon as I felt tingles making their way up my arm I snatched my hand away from him. His eyes were warm when I turned to face him and I couldn't understand why.

"What do you want?" I snapped, folding my arms across my chest as I found a spot to stare at over his shoulder.

There was no way he was going to stand there and act like everything was alright. I wasn't some toy that he could pull and push away as and when it suited him. We hadn't spoken in weeks and I was starting to become happy enough with that.

"I-" He took a step towards me. "Can we talk?"

"What?" I shook my head in disbelief as I took a step away from him. I needed to put as much distance between us as I could. The closer I was to him, the less my brain seemed to work. It was like I didn't even know him. Which, I guess was true. I really didn't have any idea which Sirius was the real Sirius. The one I had grown to love, or the one I snapped at last night. I didn't even know which one was standing in front of me.

"I want to apologise." His voice was as soft as his eyes.

There was something vulnerable about him, baring all his emotions on his face for me to see. I hadn't seen him like this the whole time we had been at Hogwarts. It was like my Sirius was finally stood in front of me again, but it was too late. Too much damage had been done for it to just be fixed like that.

"I don't want to hear it, Sirius." I forced myself to stay strong and not succumb to his charm. I'd already fallen for it once, I wasn't about to make the same mistake again. "Besides, even if I did accept your apology, which I'm not doing, it won't solve anything."

"Just give me two minutes." Sirius took a small step towards me. I instantly took a step back trying to keep as much space between us as possible.

"I don't have two minutes." My voice was a lot harsher than I had intended, but it seemed to do the trick of shocking him as he recoiled slightly. I turned back around and left him stood in the hallway, making my way down to the grounds. "I've got places to be." I shouted over my shoulder.

"Stop being so stubborn and talk to me." Sirius was beside me in no time at all, him taking one step for every two I took.

"No." I clenched my jaw together tightly. Maybe the more I showed him how irritated he was making me, the sooner he'd leave me alone. It's not like I'd given him any indication that I even wanted to talk to him. "I'm not in the mood for you today."

"Come on." His voice was almost pleading. Almost.

"I said no." I snapped, not caring about whether I was coming across as bitter or not. "Please just leave me alone."

I stormed down the stairs leading to the castle entrance when Sirius grabbed me by the wrist, stopping me from going anywhere. No matter how hard I tried to break free, Sirius was stronger than me. If he didn't want me to go, I wasn't going anywhere.

"You can't run away from me forever." He tried looking deep into my eyes but I just stared at the floor. There was no way I was going to give him any chance to lure me in, and his eyes were his biggest chance. He knew it, I knew it. We both knew it. "I'm not going anywhere until you hear me out."

"Why can't you just accept that someone doesn't want to talk to you?" I snapped, finally looking at him square in the eye. My jaw clenched as I stood my ground. "This isn't the Sirius Black show. Other people have feelings, and what I'm feeling towards you right now is severe dislike."

One side of Sirius' mouth twitched upwards a fraction. "If you want me gone you know what to do."

"You're right." I threw my hands up in the air, finally ripping my wrist out of Sirius' cage like grip. "I accept your apology. I even forgive you. Now leave me alone."

This time Sirius didn't try to stop me from walking off, instead choosing to run in front of me and turning to face me, walking backwards as he did.

His eyes darted around before he stopped in his tracks, me shortly tumbling into him. His hands automatically landed on my hips in the process and for a moment I froze up. My heart went into overdrive, crashing wildly against my rib cage as I did.

"I thought you were going to the owlery?" His eyes seemed to grow darker as his thumb gently rubbed a circle on my hip.

"I...um-" My mind went blank as I looked up at him. It had been a long time since we had been so close to each other and it was the last thing I had expected. "I lied."

"So where are we going then?" He took one hand off me and tilted my face up to try and get me to look into his eyes but I yanked my head away, my neck jarring as I did.

"We, are going nowhere." I winced, rubbing my neck with my free hand. I took a step back, making sure that I was well out of Sirius' reach. "You are going to leave me alone and go back to your friends."

I wasn't about to let him ruin my plans, and just because he has tried to do the right thing, once, it didn't mean anything. We still weren't friends, and unless he changed entirely, we weren't ever going to be friends. I had accepted it, and was fine with it. I had to be.

"What are you hiding, Juliet?" He lowered his husky voice and took a step closer to me.

We were so close to each other that we were almost chest to chest. My heart was beating so hard I could hear it and the blood rushing in my ears.

"It doesn't concern you." I couldn't get my voice to amount to anything more than a weak murmur.

If anyone was going to be able to get it out of me, Sirius would. He'd known me better than anyone else I had met in this country. He knew when I was lying, even if no one else could figure it out.

"So it's a big secret?" Sirius' eyes lit up at the prospect. It was like he saw me and my secret as some sort of challenge. "One you haven't told anyone?"

"It doesn't matter. Please, just drop it." I rolled my eyes and took yet another step away from him. "I really do need to go."

"Come on." Sirius gave me his most charming smile. Not his cocky or arrogant one, but the one that would be enough to make any girl weak at the knees. "You know you can trust me."

My stomach tied itself in a knot as I took in every last detail about him. It seemed like he was being genuine, but we all knew how it ended the last time I thought that. Thankfully, I didn't have to give him the satisfaction of an answer.

Regulus was walking past us, obviously on his way to our meeting place when he turned to flash me the smallest of smiles, his eyebrows furrowing as he nodded towards Sirius. I lifted the corner of my mouth, hoping that Sirius wouldn't catch the tiny facial movement. I could have hoped and prayed and it would have been useless.

Sirius turned to follow my gaze, his eyes locking onto his brothers and in that split second it was like every single thing about Sirius changed. His whole body tensed up at the sight, his hands were clenched so hard it looked painful. He turned back to face me, anger clouding all of his features.

"No." Sirius shook his head at me, his eyes slightly wider than they would normally be. "No!" He spun away from me, storming to where Regulus had exited the castle, obviously set on causing yet another scene.

"Sirius! Stop it!" I shouted after him, pushing my little legs to catch up with him and grab him by the elbow. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I need to knock some sense into that pillock!"

"No you don't!" I spun him around to face me and I knew there was a scowl resting on my face. "He's my friend."

A sense of satisfaction washed over me as I watched Sirius' face drop. I only felt it for a moment though, as I knew it was only a matter of time before yet another argument started.

"My brother?" Sirius' eyebrows were furrowed as his brain processed the information. He looked at me in disbelief as he waited for an answer.

"So I've been told." I fought to stop the smirk from appearing on my lips. If there was one thing I didn't need, it was to rub Sirius up the wrong way even more.

"He wouldn't-" Sirius cut himself off, unable to get any words out. "He doesn't-" He tried again and I pushed the urge to roll my eyes away. "He's a Death Eater!"

I scoffed at Sirius as I shook my head at him. "It's not going to work."

"What's not?" Sirius' grey eyes filled with worry as he ran them over me.

"You trying to make up some story so I stop hanging out with him." I let out a soft laugh as I stepped around him. This time he didn't even attempt to stop me as the shock of what I said finally sunk in.

"I'm not making anything up, Juliet." Sirius fell into step beside me. "You haven't told him you're mum's a muggle?"

This time I stopped on my own accord, shocked that Sirius even knew that. I'd never told him. In fact, the only people I had even spoken to about it were Regulus, Lily and, "Alice." I whispered. "He knows everything. I have nothing to hide."

Sirius stopped, turning to face me again. "So he has some other reason to be spending time with you."

"Why can't you just accept that we're friends." I let out a breath through my nose as I stared at him. I didn't understand how he could be so incredulous.

"Because he wouldn't waste his time on people like you! Not unless he was getting something out of it!" Sirius' words rang through me, leaving me staring at him in shock as they slowly sunk in one at a time.

"People like me?" I whispered, my mouth opening and closing like a fish. "So, you're so different to your brother because you'd waste your time on people like me? Well, purely for the fact that you see a difference, you're no better than what you're saying he is."

"That's not what I meant." He reached out to grab my hand but I pulled away before he got close enough.

"At least Regulus has never once tried to even imply that I'm any different to him just because my mom's not a witch." I backed away from Sirius. "Regulus is my friend, and nothing you can say will ever change that, because let's face it. He's been a better friend since I got here than you have." With that I turned away from Sirius leaving him gaping at my back.

"Don't walk away from me, Juliet!" His voice bellowed as I reached the door Regulus left through. "I am trying to help you!"

I stopped in my tracks, anger bubbling up in my entire body. I took numerous deep breaths as I tried to push the feeling away. Nothing worked. Instead, I turned around slowly to face him, not even trying to hide my feelings any more.

"You lost any right to 'help me'." I stalked closer to him, opening and closing my fists as I did. "You lost any right to try and be there for me. You lost the right to warn me about anyone." I prodded him in his chest as hard as I could. "You lost ANY right to be! In! My! Life!" I poked him with each word to emphasize them.

"Calm down." Sirius threw his hands up in the air in some sort of attempt to get me to listen to him. "You don't know what he's like."

"I don't want to hear what you have to say!" I fought the urge to to continue poking him.

"Tough." Sirius took a step towards me before grabbing my shoulders and moving me so my back was against the wall. He placed a hand on the wall, on either side of my head. "You're going to shut up and listen."

"No, I'm not!" I tried to shove him away from me, but my attempts were futile, only adding to my aggravation. "You have been nothing but a dick to me since I got here! You have hurt me every chance you got! And now you want me to listen to how you suddenly care?"

"He's going to hurt you!" Sirius' voice was pleading as he ignored anything I said, his eyes begging me to listen to what he was saying.

"And you didn't hurt me?" I snapped, moving my eyes into his. He seemed shocked at my outburst. "I doubt there is anything he can do to me that will ever compare to how you've made me feel."

The arms that were trapping me against the wall dropped down and Sirius took a step back. His eyes filled with sadness as he searched my face. My own eyes were filled to the brim with tears threatening to fall.

"I-" He started stammering. It was the first time I'd ever seen him unable to form a single sentence. "I haven't-"

"I don't want to hear it, Sirius." My voice was weak. I slammed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose as I willed myself not to let him see me cry. "Just leave me alone. Please, stay away from me."

Sirius grabbed for me one last time, but rather than pulling away I removed my wand from my the inside of my jacket and pointed it at his chest.

"You might be of purer blood than me, Black," One stray tear cascaded down my cheek, "but that sure as hell doesn't make you better than me. I can still put you on your ass. Come near me again and, I promise you, you will regret it."

I made my way around Sirius, not giving him the chance to say anything else. The minute my back was to him I swiped the tear away from my cheeks remembering Regulus' words about not showing him weakness. Thankfully, when I could hear Sirius' footsteps they were heading in the opposite direction.

It was like I could suddenly breath again. Any frustration that I felt drained away with every step I took away from him. It was replaced by doubt.

Sirius had seemed genuine and I couldn't shake the feeling that despite how much time I had spent with Regulus, there was something he was hiding from me. I shoved the thoughts out of my mind, internally scolding myself for letting Sirius get into my head.

He was just pissed. That was it. He was trying to feed me false information so I would get scared and just cut Regulus off. If he was only friends with me to get to Sirius he wouldn't have come up with the idea to keep it quiet. He would have wanted me to tell Sirius about it weeks ago.

My head was swimming with so many thoughts that it was starting to get impossible to decipher each individual one. I stopped paying attention to anything around me as I rubbed my temples to ease off the headache that was creeping back up on me.

Sirius' words swam back into my mind and I knew I had to speak to Regulus. I knew that he wasn't very open with me, but that didn't mean he was using me, did it? He wasn't just using me to get to Sirius. He can't have. Sirius was wrong. He didn't know what he was talking about. That was the only possible explanation.


	11. Snuffles

**A/N: You reviewers really are amazing! I love you all! And all you amazing new followers, welcome!**

 **So, this chapter was going to have a nice, long Sirius bit in it, but it ended up stupidly long, and it didn't seem to fit in as well as I wanted. I've had to split the chapter in half as it flows better. I promise you all there is a nice long chapter coming after this one and there will be LOADS of Sirius :)**

 **Instead of just one update this week I'm giving you this one early and you'll get another one on Thursday/Friday. Just putting the finishing touches on the chapter before I do a quick edit and it'll be ready for y'all.**

 **I hope you all enjoy this. Let me know what you think :)**

The second I got outside I immediately regretted what I was wearing. The cold October wind whipped my hair around my face, obscuring my view of the almost empty grounds. My hand desperately tried to hold my skirt down as a big gust of wind blew it up. In the brief break between each gust of wind, my hands moved to scrape my hair out of my face and to pull my jacket tightly around my body in a feeble attempt at preserving some heat.

My eyes darted to the treeline of the forbidden forest, scanning the entirety of it. The only movement was the rustling of the leaves, but that seemed to die down the closer I got to the dark forest. After my first initial scan I couldn't help but look over it a second time, this time to admire the array of different colours. Reds, oranges and browns could be seen for as far as the eye could see. Even all the hills surrounding the school were filled with such a variation of colours it took my breath away. This country really was unlike anything I had seen in Miami.

I reached the first tree, crossing the threshold to an area I knew very few students would dare to enter. Within a minute the trees, towering over my head, blocked out most of the sunlight. Not that it mattered, I didn't need much light to get where I was going though. My feet seemed to know the route by heart.

Every now and then I found myself glancing over my shoulder, just to make sure that I wasn't being followed; especially with how close Sirius was when I left him. The last thing I needed was for him to follow me and make an already awkward conversation even more awkward.

It never did take me long to get to the clearing, but for some reason it seemed like the journey was never ending this time. My mind was all over the place, unsure on what part of what Sirius had said to focus on. There were two choices. Let myself dwell on what he'd said about me, letting the anger that had been pushed deep down come out. Or dwell on what he had accused Regulus of, which I didn't believe. It couldn't be true, something would have hinted towards it long before then.

The space in front of me was slowly getting lighter, so I knew it was only a matter of minutes before I came face to face with Regulus. Only a few, short minutes before I could warn him about what his brother was saying about him. That is what I'd be doing, right? Warning him.

I let out a small sigh as I tugged my jacket closer to my body once again. Who was I kidding? As soon as it came out of my mouth we'd both know that there was a part of me struggling with what Sirius said. If I was so sure that it was all untrue I wouldn't waste my breath. All I needed was to hear the words out of Regulus' mouth. There was no way that he'd lie to me. He'd done nothing to prove that a single word Sirius said was even close to the truth.

As I came to the edge of the clearing I scanned the area for Regulus. It took a moment before my eyes settled on him, sitting against a tree with a small book in his hands. He was completely still, the only movement was the wind blowing through his hair, blowing it away from his face. The corner of his mouth twitched up on one side as he concentrated on whatever he was reading. It was the most relaxed I'd ever seen him, as though he didn't have to worry about what he was doing, how he was acting. He could just be.

I made my way to him slowly, my feet squelching in the wet mud as I did. It didn't take long for Regulus to hear me, his eyes lifting up from his book to me at the first sound of movement. His entire body went slightly rigid but the tiniest smile appeared on his lips as he rested his book on his lap. The two reactions contradicting one another immensely.

Just as I sat down next to him, our shoulders brushing lightly against one anothers, a shuffling came from the direction I'd just come from. Before I even had the chance to find the source of the noise, Regulus was stood with his wand in his hand. He scanned the forest, his whole body stiff and alert.

There was movement from a bush near where the sound came from, followed by the same rustling noise only slightly closer. I followed Regulus' lead and got my wand out, pointing it to the forest.

My heart crashed against my chest as I thought of all the people it could be. My mind drifted to Sirius instantly. I thought back to my journey but I was certain that I hadn't been followed by anyone.

"Did you not manage to get rid of him?" Regulus voice was low, his eyes darting around madly as he tried to find the source of the noise.

"He went back towards the common room." I shook my head as I took a step forward to try and get a better view. It was impossible to see anything out of the ordinary though, especially in the darkness that surrounded the clearing.

"Are you sure?" Regulus moved forward so he was stood just in front of me, blocking me off from whatever was in there.

I tutted and rolled my eyes. "Of course I am. It's probably just an animal." I placed my arm on the crook of Regulus' elbow and pulled him back towards the tree he had been sat by. "If it was anyone looking to hurt us, they probably would have done so already."

Regulus dropped his wand to his side before turning to face me. His eyebrows knitted together as he caught my gaze. "And you're an expert, are you?" He smirked at me whilst he shoved his wand back into his robes.

"Something like that." I forced a grin onto my face. "I'm sure whatever it is will be gone soon."

I followed Regulus back to the tree where he sat down, arranging part of his robe so that I could use it as a blanket and not have to sit directly on the mud.

The both of us turned, once again, to the sound of movement, finally seeing what was causing it.

"Is that," I squinted my eyes, trying to focus on the figure that was cautiously emerging from the trees. "a dog?"

"I think so."

A shaggy, black dog made it's way into the clearing, sniffing around as he did. It was one of the biggest dogs I'd ever seen, with slightly matted fur from where he'd obviously been running around the forest.

I got to my feet and slowly made my way to the dog, whistling to it to get its attention. The dog turned to face me instantly, it's yellow eyes landing on me. I crouched down to it's level, sticking my hand out to try and temp it over to me.

As the dog slowly made it's way to me, I couldn't help but smile to myself. It felt like I hadn't seen my own dog in forever.

"Ignore it and it'll bugger off." Regulus scoffed, obviously not too keen on the idea of having to be around it.

The dog cautiously reached me, sniffing my hand, which was still stuck out away from my body. Once he seemed to be satisfied he closed the gap between us, jumping up at me to lick my face. Suppressing a giggle, I shoved the dog down before leading him over to where Regulus was sitting, glaring at the dog in disgust.

I retook my spot next to Regulus, my knee brushing against his until the dog came and squeezed between our legs, growling at Regulus as he did.

"I don't think he likes you." I laughed. As I did it felt like everything had disappeared for that small moment; the argument with Sirius, the letter from my mum. In that moment, none of that mattered. In that moment I was sat with someone who meant more to me than anyone else at the school, and a friendly dog who didn't understand what I was going through.

"What a shame." Regulus' drawled as he shook his head at me. "I can't believe you're making me sit next to this smelly mutt."

"Hey!" I covered the dogs ears. "Leave Snuffles alone. He can hear you."

Regulus shook his head at me in disbelief, yet there was still a small smile on his face, his eyes lighting up as he looked at me. "Snuffles? You named the dog Snuffles?"

I grinned as wide as I could as I let go of Snuffles' ears and shrugged. "It's better than calling him It."

Snuffles' rested his head on my lap as I ran my fingers through his knotty fur. The smell of dog was no doubt going to be all over me by the time I left but I couldn't bring myself to care.

We sat there in comfortable silence for a bit; Regulus flicking through the book he was reading whilst I scratched the dogs head. My head went back to the argument that I had with Sirius and my stomach immediately tied itself in a knot.

"So, how'd you get rid of him in the end?" Regulus peeked at me out of the corner of his eye, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. "I would have hexed him for you."

Snuffles growled again, but this time he didn't bother turning around to face Regulus, instead just showing his teeth to my lap.

"Shh." I soothed the dog until he had calmed down. "He would have loved that! I already had to stop him from running after you."

"He saw then." He stated, placing his book in his lap before adjusting his body so that he was facing me. His voice was steady and controlled as he spoke and the entire time I was sat with him his back was straight against the tree. It was like the boy could never relax. "You should have let him. It's been a while since the two of us had a conversation."

"It wasn't a conversation he was looking for, Reg." I leaned back, resting my head against the rough bark. "It's like in that split moment you became his worst enemy. He definitely had a few choice words to say about you."

Regulus turned to face me, his grey eyes watching my face, searching it for any sign of what was going on in my head. "I can't say I'm surprised. I bet I could hazard a guess at what it concerns."

I nibbled the inside of my cheek, not sure whether to even bring it up. Now that I was beside him, there wasn't a single part of me that could believe that he was a Death Eater or that he was using me. Sure, there was something about him that was a bit uptight, but that didn't mean he was a bad guy. Besides, that was the last thing I could ever believe Regulus was. Just because he some of his friends were a bit questionable, it didn't mean he was.

After a huge internal debate I took a deep breath and steadied my nerves before turning to face him. My eyes ran over his face, taking in just how similar he was too Sirius, the both of them extremely handsome.

"I'm just going to throw this out there, and it's not because I believe in anyway that what he was saying is true." I started rambling without taking a breath, the words coming out like verbal diarrhoea. "But I just want to hear it from you and then we can just sweep it all under the carpet."

A throaty chuckle came from the boy, his eyes sparkling as he did. It was the only time he seemed completely relaxed, and it didn't seem like he even laughed all that often. "Spit it out then."

"Okay." I looked everywhere except directly at him. In the end I let my eyes focus on the Snuffles' yellow eyes that were looking up at my face. I knew that Regulus' face wouldn't give a thing away, so there was no point in observing it. He'd had too much practice at keeping his emotions hidden. "Well, it's two things really. The first is, um-" I trailed off, still not entirely sure whether I even wanted to ask the questions.

"Jules." His voice was softer than it usually was, as though he was encouraging me to continue. It was all I needed to find the courage to just come out and say it.

"He says you wouldn't waste your time on someone like me so you must have an ulterior motive for spending time with me." I blurted out the words, letting them all mix in with each other. It was then that I realised that I wasn't nervous about his answer. It was his reaction to the question that I was worried about. The last thing I wanted to do was offend him by insinuating that I didn't trust him. He was, without a shadow of doubt, the person I trusted more than anything in this place.

"And the second?" There was the smallest hint of amusement in his voice as he continued looking intently at my face.

"That you're a Death Eater." The words were barely a whisper.

All of a sudden Regulus started laughing. Not just a throaty chuckle, but a full on hearty laugh that lit up his whole face. "Of course he did." One more small chuckle escaped his lips before he turned back to me. "I'll tell you a little something about my brother. Sirius is a very bitter person, who doesn't like anyone touching what's his, especially me. He'll tell you anything he can come up with if he was certain it would keep you away from me."

I laughed at Regulus, thinking he was joking but when I looked at his face that was entirely serious I almost choked on the air. There was no way Sirius actually believed that, did he? He had barely even looked at me, so how can he honestly believe that.

"I'm not his, Reg." My eyebrows furrowed as I looked into the same amused eyes that I had just been trying to escape from. "I've never been his. He made that quite clear."

I looked down at Snuffles to find him asleep with his head still resting on my lap, his stomach slowly moving up and down with each breath. I finally stopped petting him and rested my hand on his side instead.

"It's not me you should be telling, Angel."

I froze at the sudden nickname, not expecting it. I observed Regulus' face but he showed no signs of letting the little pet name slip, as though it was just a normal, everyday occurrence. Except that's the last thing it was. He'd never once called me anything other than my name. I internally shook my head not wanting to dwell on the thought any more.

"He knows not to come near me again." I defended, not allowing myself to believe that's what Sirius actually thought. "Trust me, he'll stay away if he knows what's good for him."

Regulus looked at me dubiously before he shook his head at me, the small smile returning to his lips. "He never did know what was good for him. It's your turn to trust me when I say, he'll be back. And it won't be long before he is."

"He can try but he knows that I'm not his biggest fan right now." I shook my head, the anger from before startled bubbling within my skin again. I clenched and unclenched my fists as I tried to let go of some of the tension.

"What did he want anyway?" Regulus adjusted himself so that his body was angled towards me. "I thought he wasn't talking to you?"

I placed my hand on the ground, picking up a few of the fallen leaves that were scattered around us. The crisp leaves crumbled in my hands as I slowly worked them into a dust. "To apologise." I shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"But it is." Regulus studied my face as he pulled away slightly. "He doesn't normally take it upon himself to apologise to anyone."

"And how about we stop talking about him for a bit?" I exhaled through my nose and rested my head on Regulus' shoulder. His whole body tensed up before he leant back on the tree. Despite the tension he didn't once pull away from me. "The whole world doesn't revolve around him, as much as he'd like it to."

"Okay." He placed his hands in his lap, his right one fiddling with his left sleeve, as though he didn't know what to do with his hands. "He's off limits. Got it." He rested both hands on his book before resting his cheek on my head ever so slightly.

"What are you reading?" I said desperately trying to force conversation so that I wouldn't end up sitting there stewing about everything that had gone on. It was safe to say that the nice, stress free day that I wanted was the last thing I was going to get.

"This?" He passed the old, tattered book to me. "I must have read it a hundred times."

I ran my fingers over the faded cover. "Grimms' Fairy Tales?" I couldn't stop the small laugh from escaping my lips. "And what do you tell your friends when they see you reading a no-maj book?"

"Give me a bit of credit." Regulus scoffed, his body relaxed as I lifted my head off his shoulder to face him. "No one will find out about that unless I want them to."

"Oh, I forgot." I nudged his shoulder with my own. "You're basically a spy, right?"

"Something like that." He laughed.

There it was again. That hearty laugh that lit up his entire face, no, his entire body. It was an odd and refreshing sight. I don't think I'd ever get used to it, it contradicted everything that he tried to put across. Yet, in that minute moment he finally seemed like the 16 year old boy that he was.

"You really don't laugh enough." I commented before I realised what I was saying. "It suits you."

Regulus eyes crinkled slightly as he scoffed at me and shook his head. "That's coming from the girl who always seemed to be crying when I first met her?"

"I wasn't always crying!"

"You may as well have been! Always hiding away in the library." There was a mischievous gleam to Regulus' eyes. The exact same gleam that was constantly in Sirius' eyes. The boys were so similar, yet complete opposites at the same time.

"I'm starting to think I was better off there." I handed the tatty book back to Regulus and put my head back on his shoulder.

"You can always go back." Regulus snorted. "At least then I wouldn't have to endure the stench of a dog that has clearly never had a bath!"

All of a sudden Snuffles' eyes flew open as though he had heard and understood the insult. His head spun around so he could train his yellow eyes on Regulus, his lips curled up in a snarl.

"It's okay, boy." I ran my hand through his fur, my fingers snagging in knots as I did. "Don't listen to the horrible man."

"He can't understand me!" Regulus threw his hands in the air.

I glared at Regulus, pouting slightly to show that I was only kidding. "Of course he can. Can't you, Snuffles?" I spoke to the dog, my voice higher than it normally was.

Regulus rolled his eyes before shoving his book into his bag. "As much as I am having the time of my life, I really should head back."

I rearranged how I was sitting so I was no longer on Regulus' robes so that he could stand up without sending me flying. He looked down at me and I was shocked to find his eyes full of warmth, something that was never normally in his eyes. My breath caught in my throat at the sight. I gave him a small smile as I continued to stroke Snuffles, who was now sitting where Regulus had been.

"Are you going to be alright here?" Regulus' eyes scanned across the edge of the clearing, obviously trying to make sure that there was no one around.

"I'm more than capable of looking after myself. I'll be fine."

Regulus looked down at me, worry edging it's way onto his features for a split second.

"I won't be here much longer." I promised, my cheeks warming slightly as he continued to look down at me. "I promise."

"Okay." Regulus finally accepted after silently watching me for a minute. "See you tomorrow, Jules." He threw his bag over his shoulder, rearranged his robes and turned his back on me. His whole body was rigid as though there was a stick strapped to his back, preventing anything except perfect posture.

I watched as he disappeared through the trees before I leant my head against the tree before shutting my eyes with a sigh. Snuffles had come up beside me, his face level with my own. His cold, wet nose was on my cheek before his tongue came out to lick me.

I sighed again, letting my fingers slowly tease out some of the matted mess of his coat. I opened my eyes to meet his not moving from my face. "I know I should have gone with him, boy. You're right, I am a coward." His nose was against my cheek again, leaving a trail of slobber across my face. "I just don't have it in me for another argument today, and if I bump into Sirius there's definitely going to be an argument."

Snuffles whimpered before lying down next to me, his head was between his front paws. He looked up at me with huge puppy dog eyes as he whimpered again.

"Cheer up, boy. It's not your fault he's an ass. Maybe that's just what he's like. Maybe he just can't help it." I leant back again, letting my hand move of it's own accord as I stared up at the sun in the sky. "What do you think of Regulus? He's not bad, is he? Don't dogs have some sort of sixth sense about that sort of thing?"

A slight growl was all I heard come from Snuffles.

A groan slipped out of my throat. "I'm going crazy. Here I am, talking to a dog as though you can even understand me. I'm not going to get a straight answer out of you, am I?"

We both sat silently and unmoving as the sun moved across the blue sky. The only movement was my hand, slowly brushing the big dogs black, shaggy fur. There was something soothing about the action, something that calmed something deep within me. Whilst I was sat there with Snuffles I was content, my heart ached less, my brain worked less. It was the peace that I had been hoping for. If only I didn't have to go back.

The longer I sat there, the faster fatigue seemed to hit me. I was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of being strong and tired of everything. I fought hard to keep my eyes open, but it was only a matter of time before the darkness inevitably got me.

Snuffles' fur was rough against my cheek as I rested against his large body. The smell of dog drifted to my nostrils, somewhat soothing me as it mixed with the fresh, Autumn air. The rise and fall of his chest was enough to lull me into a light, dreamless sleep.


	12. Building Bridges

**A/N: I know I was horrible splitting the two parts up! So here as a little treat is a nice, long Sirius bit. Almost a whole chapter entirely for him! Tennis and Raven, this chapters for you!**

 **Also, a small shout out to .2018 who has not only faved this and read the lot, but left a review every chapter. You're amazing! To answer your question, I'll be aiming to go back to updating every Wednesday after this chapter :)**

 **I love all you readers. You rock :)**

"Where in Merlin's name have you been?!" Lily's voice bombarded me the second I walked into the common room, she didn't even look up from whatever essay she was working on with Remus. "No one can spend that much time in the owlery."

Rather than heading over to Lily and Remus, my feet carried me over to the rest of the group who were all sat around the usual seats by the fire. James, Sirius and Peter were all muttering amongst themselves, looking around suspiciously as they did. Alice was sat in the arm chair writing what looked like a letter, and Marlene and Dorcas were sat away from everyone for the first time. Despite the space between them and everyone else, it was still possible to hear everything that they were gossiping about.

As soon as I got to the group, I settled down on the floor directly in front of the fireplace, revelling in the warmth that was slowly creeping it's way back into my body. Finally comfortable, I was aware that Lily was still waiting for an answer, her green eyes now resting on me.

"I ended up going for a walk." I shrugged hoping no one would press for too much information. I wasn't even sure if Sirius had said anything to them about where I had been going. My eyes slowly drifted to him, who was silently watching me with the smallest hint of a smile on his lips.

"A walk?" Alice put her quill and parchment down on her lap and turned her attention to me too.

"You were gone all day." Lily started nibbling on the end of her quill briefly before she continued her work. "You must really love walking."

I rubbed my hands together in front of the fire, waiting for the feeling in my fingers to come back. "I wasn't walking the whole time!" I laughed to myself and flexed my fingers. "I found this nice spot to just sit when this dog turned up out of, well I'm not too sure where."

James and Remus looked towards Sirius, the former had knitted his eyebrows together as he did. Sirius suddenly seemed very uninterested in anything I was saying, instead he had picked up a random book off the table in front of us and was flicking through it.

"A dog?" Alice looked at me dubiously. "There are no dogs at Hogwarts."

"Except Hagrid's," Lily mused, more to herself than anyone else, "but I don't see him being on his own."

"Was it big and black with matted fur?" Peter asked, his beady blue eyes trained on me as he waited patiently for me to answer. Before I had a chance to answer him though both Sirius and James had punched him on either arm, giving him a stern look as they did. "OW!" He cried out as he tried to rub both of his arms.

I looked between the three of them, not sure what was going on. I didn't bother racking my brain to try and understand them, I knew full well that they weren't exactly the easiest to get your head around.

"Yeah, that's it. Have you seen it before?" I propped myself up onto my knees in anticipation of someone else actually seeing the dog; in the hopes that I wasn't going crazy.

Snuffles had been gone when I woke up, so if it wasn't for the faint smell of dog that lingered on my clothes I would have been adamant that I had imagined him.

"Nope." Peter looked between James and Sirius, before his eyes dropped to his fingers, that he was nervously picking. "Never seen him before."

My face dropped as I looked at the dweeby boy, not sure how he could describe the dog perfectly but claim he'd never seen it. I leant forwards, leaning on my hands as I did to get a better view of his face.

"Are you sure?" My eyes scanned everything about him. The fact that he couldn't look me in the eye, his arms folded in front of him. Something was going on and I was going to get to the bottom of it. "You managed to describe Snuffles perfectly."

The corner of James' mouth shot up as he started laughing at something that must have been hilarious. He wasn't the only one. Remus had sniggered, his hand shooting over his mouth to hide what he was doing and Peter's whole face seemed to light up.

"You named this dog Snuffles?" James' whole face was lit up, his whole body seemed to be vibrating with excitement.

"Yeah." I looked between the boys, shocked that Sirius was the only one not getting worked up about whatever the others were. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing!" Remus laughed a deep, throaty laugh that only encouraged James even more.

"Everything!" Sirius finally piped up, his face stern as he looked at me. Despite his clenched jaw and his lips being pressed into a thin line, there was something soft about his eyes. "It's a rubbish name for a dog!"

"And what would you name him?" I shook my head at him, a small smile playing on my lips as he got himself slightly worked up about my dogs name.

"Something manly like Duke, or Hercules!" Sirius rested his feet on the coffee table, crossing them at the ankle as he did.

"Nah, he's too much of a softie for a name like that." I shrugged, moving so I was no longer resting on my knees, leaning back onto my elbows as I lounged in the heat of the blazing fire.

James, Remus and Peter all started sniggering quietly to themselves again, the more Sirius got worked up, the more they seemed to find it extremely funny.

"So you were gone for hours because you found a dog?" Alice raised an eyebrow at me, proving that she was way too smart for her own good.

"I fell asleep."

"Cuddled up with Snuffles?" James leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he blocked Sirius out of my view. His eyes were so bright as he looked at me. It was like this was the funniest thing he had ever heard in his life. This boy really was weird!

"Yeah, like I said. The dog's a big softie." I shrugged again, looking over at Lily who once again had her quill in her mouth as she watched my interaction with James intently.

"Snuffles the lapdog!" James basically cried, his whole body convulsing with laughter. "That's amazing!" Tears rolled down his cheeks as he continued laughing at whatever he was finding hilarious.

"What's so funny?" I looked from James, who was yet to regain his composure, to Remus who was once again sniggering behind his hand, then to Peter who had the biggest grin on his face. "This is actually the least funny story I have ever told in my life!"

"They don't get out much." Sirius' voice was bored as he rested his head on the back of the sofa. "And they're not exactly the most sane of people."

"You can say that again." Alice mused, the corner of her lips were tugging upwards as she watched the boys act like I was a comedian. "So, how are you feeling now, Jules?"

"Not like anyone actually cares." Marlene muttered under her breath, glaring at me as she did. As she and Dorcas giggled quietly with each other I could help but roll my eyes.

I couldn't stop the smirk from appearing on my lips. It was quite clear that nothing I could do or say was ever going to get Marlene off my back. She didn't like me, and she wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but I couldn't help but feel a bit proud at how bitter she was about me.

"I think someone's had one too many bitter pills today." I shook my head, not bothering to cover up the smile on my face, instead making sure it was sickly sweet when her eyes shot over to me.

Alice snorted as she tried to cover up her laughter, while Sirius and James openly laughed at the remark. Marlene turned to face Sirius, who as she did put his hands up and stopped laughing, but that didn't hide the smirk on his lips that lit his whole face up.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marlene's voice was full of pure hatred, her entire face scrunched up in anger as she became the reason for people's laughter.

I sighed before pushing myself up again and turning to face her. "It means you're a very bitter person, especially for your age, and it really isn't a good look on you. You got what you wanted," I gestured over to Sirius with my hand, who was now watching me closely, his eyes narrowing the tiniest fraction as he did, "so why do you have to be so hateful?"

This time it was Marlene who narrowed her eyes at me, her fists clenching together as she did. "Because I hate you. You have done nothing but make my life miserable since you got here!" She stayed sitting down, but her face had gone a different stage of red as her anger seemed to be growing.

As I looked at her all I wanted to do was laugh about everything she was saying. She really was the biggest drama queen I had ever met, and that was saying something considering the bloke she had been trying to claim as her own.

"You're deluded, Sweetheart." I stood up from my seat, brushing the creases out of my dress as I did. "Take a step back and have a look at how you're acting because it's not attractive. And act like that to someone else and it might not be just a few harsh words you receive."

"Who are you calling deluded?!" Marlene's voice screeched across the common room and everyone was suddenly watching the drama unfold.

"Mars, come on." Lily's sweet voice echoed across the room as she projected it to get everyone's attention. "That's enough."

Marlene scoffed before turning on Lily, anger had well and truly edged it's way into all her features. "Of course you'd back her. We were supposed to be best friends Lily! Best friends don't ditch each other for the girls who's making the other's life hell!"

"As much as I look forward to these moments with you, McKinnon, I'm going have to reschedule this lovely chat." I smiled over at Lily and Alice. "I'm going to see what food I have upstairs." As though on cue my stomach rumbled loudly, making it clear to everyone just how hungry I was. I turned on my heel, not waiting to hear anyone's responses.

The timing was perfect, giving me an excuse to disappear. I wasn't about to let some little spoilt princess think it's alright to walk all over people just because she doesn't like them. I wasn't some weak little girl that was just going to roll over and disappear just because she wanted me to.

"I'm talking to you!" Marlene shouted after me, standing up from her seat as she did. She took a step towards me only stopping when Sirius spoke up.

"Stop embarrassing yourself." Sirius mutter to her, sending her a stern look as he did. "Do you really have to kick off every chance you get? It's all getting boring now."

I stopped in my tracks in shock. Sirius was putting her in her place for me? I turned to look at him, not sure what sort of world I had woken up in. Something was not normal about the day.

"Jules!" Lily called after me just as I started to make my way upstairs again. I stopped to turn and face her and was met with a friendly face I was growing fond of. "Remus will take you to the kitchen if you want proper food?"

"Oh, I can't." Remus' face was apologetic as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Prongs and I swapped duties today so I'm coming with you in a minute."

Lily's face seemed to drop the smallest amount, her eyebrows knitting together in frustration. "Again?" Her eyes drifted over to James who was now going out of his way to avoid her gaze.

"Prongs said he'd come with me to speak to Professor Dumbledore about something." Peter piped up quickly and I could see James' shoulders relax a touch.

"I'd go with you but I have prefect duty too I'm afraid." Alice's melodic voice rang across the room. "Sirius knows the way, I'm sure he won't mind showing you how to get there." Her eyes landed on Sirius for a moment and it was as though they were having a silent conversation with each other.

"No, it's okay." I shook my head, not sure if I was ready to face Sirius again. "I'm sure I have some chocolate lying around somewhere upstairs."

"You need to eat properly." Lily argued, obviously not impressed with my seriously unhealthy diet. "You haven't eaten anything all day."

"Really, I'm fine."

Alice let out a small breath of air through her nose as she looked up at me with a smile. "You have two choices. Head to the kitchens and eat some proper food, or I'll put you in detention and it might just happen to fall on the same day that Marlene has detention."

My arms dropped to my side as I stared at Alice. My mouth opened and closed as any words I'd wanted to say vanished from my brain, leaving me stood gasping for air like a fish. Finally, my brain seemed to catch up and I leant against the door frame.

"You've got to be kidding." I narrowed my eyes at Alice, trying to get every bad feeling into that one look but she only laughed. "You really are a terrible person!"

"Black?" Lily's eyes were now on Sirius too, daring him to say no.

"Sure, I have nothing better to do with the rest of the day." He didn't bother looking at me as he spoke, his eyes shut as he continued lounging on the sofa. When I didn't answer straight away he opened one of his eyes to look at me. "Unless you can survive on a bit of chocolate until tomorrow?"

I was more than aware of the glares I was getting from Marlene, daring me to say yes, and the stern look I was getting from Lily daring me to say no. Either way I was going to get someone's wrath. I simply nodded, deciding that I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of Lily. I was already on the wrong side of Marlene so I guess it didn't matter too much if she didn't like what I was doing.

My stomach growled again, my hand shooting up to rub it slightly. Sirius was right anyway, there was no way I would be able to last until the morning.

"Fine. I guess you're the lesser of two evils." I retraced my footsteps, heading away from the stairs to the dormitory and waiting for Sirius to get up. "Let's go."

"You have got to be kidding me!" As expected, Marlene didn't bother hiding her disdain as both her and Dorcas grumbled something under their breaths and glared at me.

"Behave, Sirius." Alice warned, though her eyes sparkled as they met his.

"I always behave." He threw a wink in her direction before saying a quick goodbye to everybody else and leading me back out of the common room.

We'd been walking in silence for a few minutes. I had no idea what to even say to him. I didn't particularly fancy being on my own with him, especially after the way we'd left things earlier that morning.

"You can just tell me how to get there. I'm sure I could find my own way there." I kept my head up and my eyes focussed on the path ahead of me.

"Don't be silly. You'd end up lost in the dungeons or something." Sirius laughed. "You're pretty good at getting lost if my memory serves me right." He laughed that laugh again, the bark that always sent shivers across my entire body.

At the hint of how we first met I couldn't help myself and my eyes drifted to him. Frustration niggled at me, not too happy that he was attempting to bring things up from before all this bullshit had happened.

His face was soft, his shoulders relaxed and a warm smile was slowly forming on his lips. I sighed, forcing the frustration to leave my body not wanting to become like Marlene.

"Besides, we could probably do with a chat." He turned to look at me, his silver eyes landing on my own. The warmth in them caused my stomach to erupt into butterflies, finally far from the cold, emotionless eyes I'd been forced to endure.

"Did I not make myself clear this morning?" I snapped, pushing everything I was feeling for him as far away as I could.

"No arguing, I promise." Sirius flashed me a charming smile, his pearly white teeth flashing as he did. "I think we just need to clear the air.

"Sirius, if I wanted to talk to you I would have heard you out this morning." I continued walking, hoping my lack of interest would deter him. Yet, despite everything, I found myself secretly revelling in the fact that he was trying so hard to make things right. It was like I was starting to see snippets of the Sirius I knew and it brought back the feelings I had tried so hard to bury and keep buried.

"I know I've not exactly been the best of friends to you since you got here, and I really am sorry for that." Sirius started, suddenly not caring whether I wanted to hear it or not. "I shouldn't have treated you the way I did."

"Why did you do it then? What was so awful about me being her?" I didn't bother looking at him, instead I started fiddling with the hem of my jacket. "We both agreed to just be friends, because that's what you wanted. So why was it suddenly so difficult for you to actually attempt to be my friend."

"Because I'm an idiot." Sirius started explaining as he started putting his cards on the table. "And, I don't know. There were just a lot of things I couldn't really deal with and you became my personal punching bag. This whole situation hasn't exactly been easy for me."

My feet stopped moving at the words. Sirius copied me, turning his entire body to face me as he did so we were face to face. "It wasn't easy for you? You haven't had to watch me all over someone else. I haven't tried to pull you up on being friends with Alice!"

"What's Alice got to do with this?" Sirius' voice was very gradually getting louder, even though it was obvious he was doing his best to keep himself calm.

"Nothing, that's the point. Alice is the equivalent to you to what Joe is to me. He has been in my life since before we were walking. He's my best and oldest friend but I shouldn't have to justify that to you! And how dare you even try to pull me up on not being with anyone else! You're hardly one to talk." My voice was far from calm and I couldn't care less.

Sirius' entire face softened, guilt riddling his features as I brought up everything he had done.

"And I really am sorry about all of that! Everything, I shouldn't have treated you like that." Sirius took a step towards me, and for the first time I didn't bother moving back. "And you misunderstood me this morning. I never meant to imply that you were inferior to me, because that's the last thing you are."

My mind drifted back to the conversation I'd had with Regulus, about how Sirius didn't apologise to anyone and I couldn't help but wonder why he was bothering with me. Maybe he really was attempting to make things up to me. Then again, he could just as easily be saying the right things to sort out the group dynamics. Not that that was a bad thing.

A long sigh escaped from my lips and I felt my shoulders sag. "Fine. Okay."

"You're accepting the apology?" Sirius' face lit up the smallest amount.

"Kind of." I looked beside me, letting my eyes scan across every portrait on the wall. I glanced at Sirius out of the corner of my eye to find him looking at me, expectantly waiting for me to elaborate. "We're never going to be friends, but I guess we can at least try to be civil." I emphasized the last word before continuing. "On one condition though." I looked up at Sirius through my eyelashes my heart aching as he looked down at me, with the biggest smile I was yet to see on his face. "You reign your girlfriend in."

"First, she's not my girlfriend. Just a very good friend." He denied any relationship between him and Marlene with a big grin on his face. It took every fibre of myself not to roll my eyes and wipe it off his face.

"Yeah, that you just happen to sleep with on a regular basis." I shook my head at him before side stepping around him and waiting for him to continue the journey so I could eat.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter as he caught up with me. "Okay, you got me there. I'll see what I can do though. I can't make any promises."

"I guess that's good enough for me."

It was finally like the tension between us had disappeared and I was over the moon that I no longer had to avoid him. All I could do was hope that things would stay like this and that Sirius was being genuine, but only time would tell.

"And the second?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me, as per usual.

"We will be friends." Sirius smirked at me. "It's only a matter of time. I can be very persuasive."

"And I can be very stubborn." I threatened, meaning every word that had come out of my mouth. It was nice to at least know that I wasn't going to have to avoid him, and that he was going to stop making everything awkward, for not only me but his friends too. But could I really get past all the hurt he put me through and ever be able to trust him again? Probably not.

"My persistence will win out. It always does."

My lips quirked up into a smile despite the amount of effort I'd put into not showing any emotion on my face. I wasn't about to let Sirius just brush everything under the rug. He needed to realise the affect his actions had on me. If he truly wanted to build a friendship back up there was no way I was going to make it easy for him, especially after everything. He was going to have to work on it.

I was quite happy walking with him in silence, because for once it wasn't uncomfortable. This was the most relaxed I'd been around him in a long time and it was easy to just appreciate the atmosphere.

Sirius ran his hand across the back of his neck, which was all he needed to do to tell me that he had something on his mind.

"What is it?" I said with a sigh.

"Can we please talk about this Regulus thing." Sirius tried to broach the subject but I instantly shook my head.

"Sirius, I'm not talking about him with you. You don't know what you're talking about." I let out a small sigh. "He's my friend, he's been more of a friend than you have and if you can't deal with that you'll be the one without a part in my life. If you're telling the truth and you really are sorry about everything and you want to put a stop to it you won't try to put a wedge between me and him."

"Fine." He shut himself up, obviously not liking my reaction to him bringing Regulus back into it. Just because he'd apologised, it didn't mean we were suddenly the best of friends. We were never going to be best friends, I think we both knew that. Heck, it was hard enough to just attempt to be friends with him! There was definitely so much that he had done that would be hard to get over, but I'd try. At least then I wouldn't feel like crap every time I was around him.

We walked in silence for the next five minutes, it only ending when Sirius stopped in front of a painting of a bowl of fruit. Rather than doing anything Sirius just stood directly in front of it, looking at me.

"Tickle the pair." He instructed, watching me expectantly.

"What?" I laughed but didn't move a muscle except to face Sirius.

"Tickle the pair." He flashed me that charming smile again and the butterflies seemed to reappear again.

I did the only thing I could to try and forget about what I was feeling, internally scolding myself for falling for his charms so quickly. I slowly reached out and tickled the painting, jumping when the pear started giggling before turning into a green handle.

Sirius reached around me, one hand resting on the small of my back as he reached for the handle with the other. My whole body went stiff at his touch. It was so familiar, yet so different at the same time. Whereas before I would relax into his touch, this time I couldn't bring myself to do so. The last thing I wanted was to get drawn back, but my body was doing everything it could to betray me.

"Come on, then." Sirius gentle pushed me forward through the painting.

I followed his orders, trying to speed up to step away from him, but for every two steps I took, Sirius was only taking one.

As we got down the stairs I was met with a big room, the exact same size as the great hall with five identical tables set out in the exact same way they were upstairs. The ceiling was so high, with pots and pans stacked up high against the stone walls.

House-elves were dotted around, all of them busying themselves with cleaning up from dinner. It wasn't long until we were noticed by a small elf who's whole face shone brightly as her big blue eyes landed on Sirius.

"Master Black!" Her high voice squealed as she plodded over to us. "You've brought a date?" Her eyes scanned over me quickly before a huge grin spread across her face. "Pixie is pleased to meet you." She bowed her head to me ever so slightly before picking herself up.

"Not a date today." Sirius said with a grin on his face, finally removing his hand from my back. "This is Jules. And how many times do I have to tell you, it's Sirius!" He flashed a small smile at the elf and I couldn't help but smile as the scene unfolded.

"Pixie is sorry." Her face dropped, her bat like ears drooping down the side of her face. "Pixie forgets what Sirius Black tells her every time."

"Don't worry that pretty little head of yours." Sirius' voice was soft before his eyes landed on me briefly. "I don't suppose you can rustle something together for Jules. She missed dinner."

"Pixie would love to." The grin was back on her face, her happiness was obvious for anyone to see. "What would Miss Jules like Pixie to prepare?" Her face was eager as she waited for instructions.

I opened my mouth to tell her but Sirius beat me to it, leaving me stood there with my mouth hanging open.

"Do you reckon you could whip up some of your famous fish and chips? It's about time she tried the best fish and chips around."

I wouldn't have thought it possible if I hadn't seen it myself, but Pixie's smile managed to double in size and I couldn't help but smile at her warmly.

"Coming right up. Sirius Black and Miss Jules should take a seat." Pixie started running away from us, directing us to a small table for two that I hadn't noticed when we first entered the kitchens. "Pixie won't be long."

"Can I not decide what I want to eat myself?" I whispered, hoping not to cause a scene in front of the elves.

"You never complained before." Sirius shrugged as he lead me towards the table in the corner of the room.

"It was different before, Sirius." I shook my head, sitting down in one of the chairs. "It's never going to be how it was before. We're going to have to figure out how this is going to work because you can't just act like nothing has happened between us."

"I know." Sirius took the spare seat, turning it so his body was facing mine again. "But you need to not dwell on the past. You'll never be able to move forward if you're always looking back."

I studied his face, shocked to find that he was being nothing but sincere. It wasn't that I hadn't thought he had been before, it's just he'd never been so genuine for such a long period of time.

"I get what you're saying, I do." I tore my eyes away and looked down at me lap. "But we're never going to be best friends, Sirius. Maybe one day we'll be able to be friends again, but for now I'm not going to come crying to you when something bothers me."

"That's what my brother's for." His voice dropped a bit with his eyes. He wasn't asking a question and he definitely wasn't talking to me.

"You hurt me a lot, Sirius." I kept my voice soft as I spoke, letting my eyes run over his face as I did. I couldn't help but remember all the times I'd been this close to him in the past. My stomach ties itself in a knot as my heart started beating slightly faster. "And I don't know how much of this is genuine. I'm not about to let my guard down so you can do it all over again."

"You don't have to always make it awkward though." He eyed me sceptically.

"I'm not saying I'll always be like this. But you only apologised five minutes ago! Give me some time to deal." I dropped my head onto the table, getting more exasperated my the minute. "You need to accept that a couple of well meant words aren't going to change anything. Actions speak louder than words, and your words can barely compare to how you've acted."

Pixie came over with two plates of fish and chips, despite Sirius only asking for food for me, and placed them in front of us both. "Pixie hopes you enjoy your food." She bowed her head again before backing away so we could eat the food.

Thankfully, Sirius didn't seem to push the topic any more, instead focussing on the beer battered fish on his place. He scooped a load of tartar sauce onto it, smothering the entire fish in the sauce before digging in, acting as though he hadn't eaten in days.

"Did you not eat dinner?" I raised an eyebrow at him as I slowly started making my way through what really was the best fish and chips I'd ever eaten.

"Yeah, why?"

I couldn't help but laugh as I shook my head from side to side. I swallowed the chip I was chewing before looking back at Sirius. "I never did understand where you put it all."

We didn't say another word to each other while we ate all the food that was on the plates. Once we had thanked Pixie, who had piled our arms up with tonnes of desserts and pastries we headed back to the common room.

"So, I never asked." Sirius started softly. "How are you finding it here? I know you weren't looking forward to coming here."

I just shrugged. "It's alright. It'd be a lot easier if I could-" I cut myself off, not sure why I was going to start talking about my mum to him. I had just told him we weren't friends yet there I was about to spill all my problems. "Never mind. It's fine. Lily and Alice had made it pretty easy to enjoy myself."

I could feel Sirius' eyes on me and had to force myself not to squirm under his gaze. Seemingly it was still easy enough for him to work out what I wanted. Rather than pressing the matter he just continued on, changing the subject at the first sign that I was uncomfortable.

"What is it your dad does? He obviously isn't in the military."

"He's an Auror." I said nonchalantly. "The Ministry requested that he move here and help with the current state of affairs."

"That makes sense. And your mums the reason you could easily get away with being a muggle for so long?" Sirius' voice was full of curiosity as he finally got the answers he'd probably been wondering about for weeks.

I knew that he wanted all this in the past and this was his way of trying to clear the air. And he had been right in the kitchens. It would never be any better between us if I was going to start holding grudges. I wasn't a bitter person, and I wasn't about to start being one now. Surely that would make me no better than Marlene.

"Dad was away a lot so it was just me and Mom." My heart broke as I thought back to my childhood with my mother, especially knowing that it could only be a matter of time before the memories were all I had. "She did the best she could and I guess I got the best of both worlds because of it."

We had finally reached the portrait to the common room and I finally felt like I could relax. I wouldn't have to talk about my family any more, and that was fine by me. It was safe to say that the more I tried to think or talk about them, the harder it was getting. Especially as it got closer to the dreaded operation next week.

Sirius said the password and climbed through the portrait hole, waiting for me at the other end.

Much to my chagrin, Marlene was still sat exactly where she had been before, except this time she was alone. She had a face like thunder, pure rage was all I could see when I looked towards her. From the scowl to the clenched fists and shakes she had.

I smiled up at Sirius. "Thanks for that, but I think you should go calm her down before she murders me in my sleep." I gestured towards Marlene.

Sirius seemed to clock her for the first time, simply nodded his head as he did. "You might be right. I definitely wouldn't want to be you right now."

"Sirius Orion Black!" Marlene's shrill voice stung my ears, both Sirius and myself flinching at the sound.

"I wouldn't want to be you either." I shook my head, trying not to laugh as I walked past Sirius to head up to the dormitory. "Good luck." I called over my shoulder just as Sirius had reached Marlene, not caring that Marlene could hear me.

Her eyes shot to me, giving me the worst daggers she could muster up. Seriously, if looks could kill I'd definitely be dead after that.

I walked up the stairs feeling her gaze on my back. When I entered the bedroom I was pleasantly surprised that Lily and Alice were already there, lounging in their beds giggling about Alice's boyfriend, Frank.

With a big smile on my face I walked past their beds before falling back on my own with my eyes shut. The second my head hit my pillow there was a loud gush as something wet fell on top of me, drenching me. At the same time Alice and Lily screamed, whatever had obviously happened to them too.

I shot up, looking around to find all three of us covered in bright coloured liquid that stained everything it touched. Lily was covered in bright green, Alice in bright orange and I looked down at myself to find bright pink everywhere.

As Alice tried wiping it off it turned out that whatever it was that had fallen on us had stained whatever it touched. Hair, skin, clothes. You name it, it was a different colour.

"JAMES POTTER!" Lily screamed at the top of her voice before getting up and storming out of the dormitory before shouting down the stairs. "I'M GOING TO GET YOU BACK IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"

Alice and I took one final look at one another before bursting into hysterics, not bothered by our sudden change in appearance.

 **A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this! Next chapter is all about payback! ;)**


	13. Sweet Revenge

**A/N: Thank you so much for all your absolutely amazing reviews! We're well past 50 now! Wow :o All you new readers, welcome! Thank you so much for reading and I'm so glad you're enjoying it all!**

 **I'm so glad that you enjoyed the last chapter, it took me ages to get it right! This one has taken me ages too so I hope you enjoy it. A nice, calm before the storm chapter, preparing for an action filled one next.**

 **A few of you have said you'll like some more flashbacks so I'll make sure that I put a few more of them into the story. MrsSiriusBlack, I will try to answer all your questions within the story in the next few chapters :)**

 **Happy reading :)**

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Alice looked between me and my cauldron dubiously. "No offence, but you're not exactly the best at potions. Maybe Lily should do it?" Her voice was no louder than a whisper as I brewed a potion quietly in the dormitory bathroom.

I laughed under my breath, all of us making sure not to wake Dorcas and Marlene, who were still fast asleep just next door. I started stirring the potion anti-clockwise 23 times, not replying until I was sure I'd done the correct amount. "It will work. I've made this plenty of times in the past. Trust me, this is far from my first rodeo." I used a ladle to fill one small vial full of the potion before starting to work on the second potion.

"I wouldn't know where to start anyway." Lily mused quietly. "I've never made these before. It could come in handy though." She'd had her notebook out, taking care to note down every tiny detail of what I was doing.

I had to give it to the girl, she really did go above and beyond to learn.

"You've used this before then?" Alice picked up one of the vials and brought it close to her face so she could inspect the shimmering white liquid.

"A few times." I gave her a sly grin.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this." Lily whispered. She looked nervously around the room before poking her head out the door to make sure the others were still asleep. It was 4am and we only had two more hours left before Marlene would be up for quidditch practice, which meant we had that amount of time to get everything sorted then get Alice back in bed and make it look like she was never up.

"We can't let them get away with this." I signalled to each of us, not that she could miss the fact we were all the same colours we were when the boys had pranked us. Whatever it was they used wouldn't even fade. It didn't matter how many showers we had, or how many cleaning spells we used, nothing seemed to shift the bright colours.

"And this is the only way that will get to both ring leaders." A cheeky grin appeared on Alice's face as she zoned out into her own world. I can only imagine that she was running through the plan one last time, taking delight in the outcome. "They won't know what hit them!"

"But it was only Potter and Pettigrew." Lily was nibbling on the end of her quill nervously. I couldn't help but smile warmly at her as she tried to justify reasons not to do it.

Alice scoffed as she handed me ingredients as I needed them. "When has there ever been a prank that Sirius didn't have a part to play?" She looked up at Lily, her face softening a fraction. "He was probably the brains behind it and just got lucky when we asked him to go with Jules."

"You're right." Lily let out a sigh. It was clear that she was having an internal conflict between the 17 year old, fun-loving girl and the mature head girl. The former was obviously going to win over, especially with a slight push from Alice and myself.

It was weird. Most people would have been stained bright pink and made a big deal about it, but it actually made me feel like I was back at home in America. With just one little joke, I finally felt like I belonged. To the whole group. Especially the boys, who were always quick to avoid me because of Sirius. Maybe this really was the start of a good thing.

"Where did you learn this anyway?" Lily looked up at me with a coy smile on her face.

I paused for a moment to add the final ingredient and finish stirring the second potion and bottled that up too. "I guess Joe is a lot like Sirius." I shrugged but knew I was grinning like a Cheshire cat as I recalled some of the pranks we'd played on each other. "Our prank war went on for years."

"Great!" Alice spoke a bit to loud, earning her a warning look from Lily. "Sorry," she whispered, "but we could do with some fresh ideas."

I suppressed a small giggle whilst I looked fondly between the two girls. They were quickly becoming a big part of my life, and despite only knowing them a month and a half it was weird to think of what my life was without them. They had proven that they were there more for me than all of my girlfriends from back home; all of whom I had heard nothing from since I first moved away.

"On the topic of Joe." Alice took her wand out and quickly cleaned the cauldron out. She watched me carefully out of the corner of her eye. "What's going on there?"

"Absolutely nothing." I gathered up all of the spare ingredients and put them together before sitting opposite Alice. "Our dads worked together before we were born and there's only a few months between us so I guess we just got pushed together. I tugged at my hair, pulling it over my right shoulder before fiddling with the ends. "They were always pushing us together. I think they all liked the idea of us getting married or something."

Lily was sat on the toilet seat, she'd pulled her legs up to hug them. "You never thought about it?"

"Not once." I wrinkled my nose up in disgust,

"What's wrong with him then?" Alice giggled. "If you've never thought about it there must be something wrong with him."

Both girls looked at me expectantly as they waited for me to fill them in with all the gossip. Neither of them were about to let me out of there without filling them in about my past. I let out a small giggle and shook my head the tiniest amount.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with him." I crossed my legs at the ankles, bringing my knees up to my chest. "We probably would have made an amazing couple if I didn't cringe at the thought of him as more than a friend. Well, that and the fact that I'm pretty sure he slept with every single one of my girlfriends back home."

Alice let out a small, shrill giggle before her hands shot over her mouth when Lily threw her another one of those warning looks, that was enough to quiet even the boys. I did all I could to stifle my own laugh which only made Lily start cracking up.

"So you have a type." Lily giggled through her hand, her green eyes shone brightly. "Sleazy, troublesome players."

I shook my head at the girls, refusing to encourage their choice of topic. "I was just unlucky that the guy I fell for turned out to be exactly like my best friend. Thank Merlin they won't ever have to meet. I don't think I could handle the two of them together."

"But you and Sirius are getting along?" There was something about Alice's gaze that told me she wasn't telling me everything. There was something going on in that little head of hers, but I couldn't work it out.

I let out a small sigh. "Sirius and I are being civil. That's it. I know when it's time for me to be an adult and just let it all go." I started playing with my hair, making a loose fishtail braid over my right shoulder. "There's only so much I can argue with someone before I can't take any more."

"Would you ever go back there?" Lily's voice was sweet and soft. Everything about her was nurturing, from the way she spoke to the way she nagged everybody.

"No!" I laughed, forgetting that we were meant to be being quiet. "There is way too much water under that bridge. Besides, I am not interested in dating anyone right now. I have enough on my plate."

Alice let out a small scoff as she pushed herself to her feet. "Of course you're not interested. You haven't met anyone except the boys. You need to get out there and meet new guys."

Lily laughed along with Alice. I glared at them both, not wanting to continue talking about my love life, or lack thereof.

"What about you and James." I finally asked, not giving them any inclination that I had heard what Alice had said.

Even through the green stained skin, it was easy to see the blush that tinted her cheeks at the mention of James.

"There is no 'me and James'". Lily said, using her fingers as quote marks as she did. "He won't even look at me. Let alone talk to me." She screwed her face up, as though she was terribly disturbed at the idea.

"Does that bother you?" I turned all my attention to Lily.

The longer James ignored Lily, the more she seemed to get agitated. Not that she ever once implied that was the reason. We knew though. We all did, except maybe James. The pair really were hopeless and you couldn't help but want to push them along in the right direction.

"Of course not." Lily's voice went up an octave, her eyebrows shooting upwards in surprise. "I just don't see how he can expect us to work together all year when he refuses to even patrol with me."

Alice and I shared a knowing glance. It was somewhat cute how Lily thought that we believed any of the drabble she was spinning.

"You did tell him to stay away from you, Lils." All of a sudden Alice had taken on a completely different air. Gone was the mischievous, fun-loving girl, and remaining was a wise agony Aunt who only wanted what was best for Lily. "You can't blame the bloke for finally listening to you."

Lily's limbs dropped to her side. "I didn't mean he had to avoid me at all costs." She rested her head on the cold tiles behind her and slowly shut her eyes. "He doesn't have to keep swapping his duties to make sure he's not around me. I just wanted him to stop asking me out."

"And now you miss his attention." I stated causing her to shoot up and glare at me. I couldn't stop the smile from forming on my mouth as I poked my tongue out at her. "Just speak to him." I advised as I shrugged my shoulders. "Let him know you've had enough space."

Her eyes went wide slightly at the thought. "Not going to happen. It'll just encourage him to revert back to his childish ways."

"And pranking him isn't going to do that?" Alice laughed. She wasn't even trying to hide how funny she found the Lily and James situation.

It was obvious for everyone, except the two of them, that they both liked each other; even if Lily refused to admit it. It was clear, for the whole world to see, that she missed the attention she once got from him. Whenever he went out of his way to stay clear of her, hurt was evident on her face.

"Maybe the prank is just what she needs to finally show what she's too scared to tell him?" I directed my question at Alice, completely ignoring the looks of dismay Lily was giving us.

"You're right. Once he finds out she's involved he'll think he's in heaven." Alice pointedly looked at Lily before winking at me.

"Guys!" Lily raised her voice and rose to her feet. "You don't have to talk about me like I'm not here." She huffed, pouting her lips out as she did. "Don't you think we should probably put this in place." She raised the vial with the white shimmering liquid, leaving the white matte liquid for me to pick up.

The three of us quickly picked up everything that had been scattered around the floor and quietly snuck back into the bedroom to put them away. I shoved the vial I had into my bag and watched as Alice climbed into her bed.

"Are you sure you're both alright doing this?" Alice whispered from her bed, "I can be in and out in no time."

"We can't risk Marlene waking up and you not being there." Lily shook my head at her before looking over at Marlene's bed, the sound of her steady breathing came from somewhere behind the drapes. "She always wakes you up to go to training."

"Yeah, we can't risk it." I headed to the door with Lily hot on my heals. I took a deep breath and crept out of the dormitory.

It was completely silent as we both tiptoed down the stairs, even though there was no one around to hear us. Our footsteps were muted, all the way up the stairs to the boys dormitory. We only stopped when we finally reached the door, and that was only when Lily pulled on my hand to stop me from opening it and heading straight in.

In that moment adrenaline coursed through my bones. The thought of sneaking into the boys room, whilst they were all in there was enough to send my heart into overdrive, but it wasn't bad. It pushed me to do it, the thoughts of their faces come morning would be more than I could handle.

"Are you sure we want to do this?" Lily asked me one last time. Her hand was shaking as it rested on my arm.

I place my hand on top of hers and gave her my most reassuring smile. "I'm sure if you are."

She simply nodded her response and withdraw her hand from me. We both took in a deep breath; Lily to steel her nerves, me to revel in mine. I let the big grin fall onto my face as I turned the cold handle and gently pushed the door open.

It was the first time either of us had stepped foot in the boys room, and it was far from what I was expecting. Two out of the four beds were in pristine condition, not even a sock was out of place. One of the beds had books scattered in piles around it, showing us what was obviously Remus' bed. Then the final bed, the one closest two the bathroom seemed to be overrun by clothes; clean or dirty, I don't know, but it was safe to say whoever was sleeping there didn't know the first thing about tidying up.

I took a closer look at the clothes, shocked to reveal that they belonged to Peter. It wasn't that I didn't believe he could be that messy, but I had never in a million years thought that Sirius would be so...organised.

Shaking the thoughts from my head, I made my way through the dormitory, heading straight for the bathroom. Lily wasn't far behind me, neither of us seemed to be breathing as we navigated our way through Peter's clothes.

A deep, snore came from one of the first two beds, causing both of us to freeze in our spots praying that they would stay asleep. Someone must have been looking over us because we managed to get to the bathroom without so much as a hindrance. Once we got there, we both let out the breath we'd been holding since we stepped foot into the boys territory. We both knew the consequences of getting caught in there, so we both worked in complete silence.

I stepped into the shower, looking for everything that could be used for hair. Once I'd got everything together I spread the potion out between them all, making sure that there was no chance anyone was getting missed out of this prank.

Lily stayed by the bathroom door, her eyes darting across the bedroom as she kept an eye and ear out for the boys, making sure they were all still asleep.

"Shit." Lily let the door gently close, before joining me in the shower and placing her hand over my mouth. Her green eyes were wide as she mouthed Sirius' name.

We were both huddled up in the shower, getting as close to the corner as we could when the bathroom door swung open.

"Prongs!" Sirius shouted, his voice coming from directly beside us as he made his way to the toilet. "Get up you lazy shit!"

Lily and I were staring at one another, both our eyes wide at the sudden chance that we weren't making it out of there undetected, when Sirius' hand reached through the shower curtain to turn the shower on, drenching us both with freezing cold water.

He plodded back into the bedroom, letting the door swing shut behind him.

"What are we going to do?" Lily whispered, her face alive with fear.

I couldn't help but smile at the look on her face. She really was like a deer in headlights. A drowned, green deer at that. "We'll figure something out. We're all done. We just have to get out now."

"But there isn't a way out."

"Shhh." I placed my hand over her mouth just as the door to the room reopened.

"I guess you're right." A hand came back into the shower, through the curtain, and turned the shower back off.

"I'm always right." James shouted from the other room, his voice muffled through the door. "Hey Pads, do you know what's up with Juliet?"

My heart started crashing harder against my chest. They can't have known there was anything up with me, no one would have told them. I felt sick at the thought of listening in to a conversation about myself, but at the same time I couldn't stop myself from making sure I caught what they were saying.

The tap to the sink started running, shortly followed by the sound of brushing teeth when James entered the room. It sounded as though he was just leaning against the door whilst he waited for Sirius' answer. Minutes went by with James patiently waiting without another word until the tap got turned off and there was a shuffle of feet.

"Alice refused to tell me." Sirius spoke as though it didn't matter to him. "And Jules isn't about to confide in me about whatever it is. I bet she's told Regulus."

James laughed before cutting himself off abruptly. "What are you on about? Why would she tell him?"

A sigh came from who I could only assume was Sirius. "That's where she's been disappearing to. Some little field in the forest. She meets Regulus there."

I shut my eyes and rested my head against the wall to the side of me. I didn't want to face Lily, I couldn't bring myself to look at her. I knew exactly what I was going to see in her eyes. Confusion, anger.

With two deep breaths I slowly opened my eyes to be met by Lily's stern eyes. Her mouth was hanging open like a fish. If her face was anything to go by, I was more than successful and making sure no one suspected anything.

"Surely she knows about him." James' voice seemed to be filled with shock, but I couldn't tell without taking a peek at him, which would only increase our risk of getting caught.

"She doesn't want to hear it, Mate. I can't tell her anything when she won't listen." It went silent for a split second whilst someone searched around for something on the side. "Regulus isn't a topic she's willing to talk about. She's going to get hurt."

"That's why you followed her?" James' voice was so caring, it was unlike anything I'd ever heard come from him. Sure, we saw the popular, quidditch captain who was constantly joking around, but this caring side that he kept for the other boys wasn't something any of us had seen before.

"Something like that."

"You know, none of this would have went on if you'd listened to me weeks ago." James sympathised. "You should have sorted your attitude out a long time ago Sirius, not just because Ali asked you to."

I scoffed back a laugh as both of the boys left the bathroom. Alice had asked him to change how he was acting, it wasn't something he did for himself? My heart sank and I couldn't stop disappointment from edging it's way into my thoughts. Was I really disappointed that he hadn't apologised because he wanted to? Was it really such a big deal?

Lily didn't say a word to me, neither of us moved until she was sure the boys had gone down to the quidditch pitch. She crept out of the shower, cast a quick drying spell on herself before storming out of the bathroom and back up to our dormitory.

I followed her as fast and as silent as I could, only catching up to her when she reached the door to our own room. "Lily, wait." I gently held her back by her arm. I tried to get her to look me in the eye but she just stared at a point on the wall behind my head. "I was going to tell you."

"But you knew how we'd all react." Lily's voice was still a soft as ever, but it was like she'd suddenly withdrew herself. "We all told you what they did to Mary, what they do to people like me." Her voice cracked as she spoke, obviously finding it hard to accept that Regulus and I were close. "Sirius is right, he will hurt you. They always do." She turned her back to me and started heading into the room when she stopped in her tracks. "Just be careful, Jules." And with that she went straight to the bathroom to start getting ready for the day.

"I don't know how you did it, Alice, but fix it!" Sirius ordered, his face set in a scowl. "We promised we wouldn't go for each others hair." His voice was verging on the pleading side of things when he ran his hand through his hair. The clumps of hair that were being pulled away from his scalp were enough to know that the potion was working perfectly.

Alice flashed Sirius her most innocent look, fluttering her eyelids as she did. "I don't know what you're talking about. I've been with Marlene all morning."

Sirius' eyes shot to Marlene in no time, obviously intent of getting to the bottom of his hair falling out. "I woke her up before practice and she's been with me since."

The food on my plate was the most interesting thing going on in the room. I found myself unable to look in the direction of either girls or Sirius. All it would take was to catch one of their eyes, or get a glimpse of the bald patch that was becoming more apparent the more Sirius tried to cover it up, to make me lose my composure.

"Besides, we only agreed not to permanently damage each others hair." Alice shrugged one of her shoulders before looking up sweetly at Sirius.

"I am losing my hair, Alice!" Sirius shouted, obviously not finding any of the situation funny. When I finally chanced a look at him I noticed the tense set in his jaw as he leant on the table over Alice. His hair had also been rearranged so that what hair he had left covered a large bare spot at the back of his head.

It shouldn't have been that funny. In fact, Sirius' reaction should have probably made us feel that little bit of guilt, but the angrier he go, the funnier I found it. My hand shot over my mouth as I tried to stop the laughter that was threatening to erupt.

My eyes drifted over to Lily, who seemed to be having the same problem as me. She just couldn't bring herself to stay mutual at the sight of Sirius and James' hair falling out.

James' eyes landed on Lily causing the smirk to drop from her face, her whole body seemed to go rigid at the first sign of acknowledgement in weeks.

"Evans?" James' voice was soft and all signs of anger had left his face. Instead, he looked at her in awe, along with the rest of the group. It wasn't just him that was shocked at her apparent involvement. "I guess that makes sense. We hadn't seen anything like this before." A small grin appeared on James' face, only growing bigger with the blush spreading across Lily's cheeks.

Alice and I shared a knowing look before my eyes caught another intrigued pair on me. All anger was gone from Sirius' eyes and was replaced by curiosity. He raised one of his eyebrows at me, the usual smirk reappearing on his face. He slowly eased himself into the spot between Alice and myself and I found myself freezing at the sudden proximity to him.

His arm brushed against mine, electricity igniting within me at the contact. I shuffled as far away from him as I could without climbing on top of Lily's lap, who was doing all she could to make James believe that she couldn't do anything about his ever receding hairline.

"Juliet?" Sirius' voice was smooth like honey, his eyes soft with a hint of excitement in them. "I don't think you're quite aware of what you've got yourself involved in."

I sent a small smile in his direction and made sure to keep my eyes on his. By this point Alice, Lily and James all seemed to be watching everything unfold with anticipation. Anger was still evident all over James' face but it had diminished quickly once he thought Lily was involved. Then there was Alice and Lily, both watching me intently, waiting to see if I manage to pull everything off.

"Now, I know you're smart enough not to make this permanent." Sirius picked up a small clump of hair that was laying on his shoulder and flicked it to the floor. "So I'm going to give you one chance."

"One chance for what?" I squirmed under his gaze but couldn't bring myself to look away.

It was like I was slowly being drawn into them. The warmth that I had yearned for was finally back, but I wasn't sure if I even wanted it any more. It had taken long enough to get to where we were, able to actually be around each other.

Sirius leant his elbow on the table and turned his body towards me. "You have one chance to sort my hair out or we're going to have a war on our hands, and believe me when I say that's the last thing you want."

"Is that a threat, Mister Black?" I kept my voice level and my face straight. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be to keep my composure. Especially in front of Sirius.

"It's a promise." James spoke from opposite me, his face gleamed at the prospect of an upcoming prank war.

I took a sip of my coffee, the hot dark liquid scolding my throat. "There's just one problem." I moved my gaze from one boy to the other, before they landed on Remus and Peter running into the great hall.

Both the boys hair seemed to be visibly thinning out in front of everyone's eyes. The four of them together, all with the same condition sent eruptions of hushed murmurs spread across the hall.

"All this colour," I indicated to mine, Alice and Lily's bright hair and tinted skin, "is scrambling my brain. I just can't remember where I put that damn potion."

Remus let out a deep, throaty chuckle. "You're good, Bryce. I'll give you that." Without even checking with the other boys he pulled his wand out of his robe and pointed it at Lily, Alice and myself in turn, muttering an incantation as he did.

I let out a breath of relief as I took in my normal coloured skin. I pulled my hair over my shoulder and grinned triumphantly as I noted the bright pink was replaced by my normal golden tones. Turning my back on Sirius, I reached into my bag, rooting around until I pulled the right vial out of my bag.

I held it up to Sirius' face and his hand instantly snatched it out of my hand. Without getting my wand out, I accio'ed the vial back into my own hand. Sirius' face dropped, his mouth hanging open at the sight of wandless magic. "First things first," I gave him my most winning grin, downplaying the magic as much as I could. "How do I know that you're not going instantly get revenge on us for this." I flicked some hair off of Sirius' robe as I spoke, my heart still crashing wildly against my chest.

"Just give him the vial." Lily spoke up, her voice stern as she tried to gain some authority on the situation. "The longer we drag this out, the worse their revenge will be."

"Can't we wait just a little bit longer?" Alice chuckled to herself, looking between each of the boys, her gaze focussing on their ever balding heads. "I really want to see what you look like with no hair, Siri."

Sirius tore of a corner from his toast before throwing it at Alice, hitting her on the cheek. "No, you really don't."

"Please Juliet." James climbed over his seat and dropped to his knees in front of me and grabbed my hands in his. "I'm begging you."

A laugh bubbled up from my throat and I shook my head at the boy in disbelief. "Fine." I unstoppered the potion and put one drop in a cup for each of the boys. "Down the whole drink and that should do it. It'll take a few minutes, but your hair will grow back to how you normally have it."

All four boys picked up their goblets, said a quick cheers and downed their drinks. Sirius was the first to slam the goblet on the table, shortly followed by James and then Remus; Peter taking his time as he struggled to keep up with the boys.

"So?" Sirius asked, his hands searching his head for signs that his hair had reappeared.

For a moment nothing happened, then all of a sudden all their hair started growing even longer than it had been before. It wasn't just their hair that started changing though, it was everything about them. Any stubble any of them had disappeared back into their faces. Their broad shoulders seemed to shrink, and their chests grew out in front of them.

"What is going on?" James gasped, his eyes wide with shock as the pitch of his voice went up. He looked between the other three boys, taking in each of their appearances.

Alice, Lily and almost every other student in the great hall seemed to be enjoying the transformation that was happening in front of their very eyes.

"Oh, shoot." I slapped my hand against my forehead. "I forgot, that potion doesn't just bring back your hair."

My eyes danced over the four boys, who were now sitting amongst us looking nothing like boys. It was easy to get wrapped up in the hysterical laughter that was echoing around the hall.

"You never mentioned that would happen!" Alice cackled, a tear rolling down her face as she took in the shocked faces on the troublesome four.

"I thought I'd make everything a bit interesting." I winked at Alice before turning back to Sirius whose face was gleaming at the sight of the others.

He let out the loudest bark of laughter before the other boys all joined in, revelling in the fact that they all had the body and features of girls.

I had to admit, Sirius and Remus really did make good looking girls!

"This is not what I expected!" James had the biggest grin on his face as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "I think we've just found our secret weapon."

"How do we change back?" Peter asked, his voice small. "We won't have to stay like this forever will we?"

I gave Peter a warm smile. It was cute how worried he was. It wasn't like he was all that either way, in fact, he probably looked better as a female. "Don't worry, Pete. You'll turn back to your normal self in 48 hours."

"48 hours?" Peter's mouth dropped open, causing everyone to erupt into laughter again. "But we have to go to class."

"There is no way I am going to class when I'm like this." Sirius barked, his laughter filling the room. "There are so many better things I could be doing whilst I have this chance." He winked at Peter.

I rolled my eyes and stood up, picking my bag up as I did. "As much as I'd love to sit here and listen to what you four are going to do to yourselves, I really do have places to be."

I had barely got two steps when a hand grabbed hold of my arm. I turned around to find Sirius looking at me, his eyes were the only familiar thing about his face. "You best learn to sleep with your eyes open. You've just started a war." There was a gleam in his eye, a gleam I knew was mirrored in my own.

"Bring it." I gave him a small smile, nodded to Lily and Alice before making my way away from the table.

I didn't look back as I walked out of the great hall, satisfaction settled within me and I couldn't hide the smile on my face if I wanted to. There was something extremely satisfying about giving Sirius a taste of his own medicine. Which was only made sweeter when he took it all in his stride.

I had barely reached the stairs to head to the library when someone grabbed the crook of my elbow. They turned me around and I was met by the younger Black brother. There was amusement clouding his features making him look his age. It was like, in every moment of joy, he looked more and more like the boy I could only imagine he was before all this darkness started to engulf him.

Looking at him I couldn't help but wonder if there was a way to keep him from becoming a Death Eater. There must be something I could do, or say, to make him realise that there really was another way to live; and it really wasn't that bad.

"Reg," I didn't think it was possible but my smile grew wider, "everything alright?"

"You're actually smiling." Regulus pointed out, pulling me into an alcove so we weren't out in the open. It was only then that his fingers loosened around my arm, giving me enough leeway to move my arm back to my side. "It's nice."

I let out a small giggle as Regulus looked behind him, making sure we weren't seen by anyone.

"I know you didn't pull me aside just to comment on my smile." My eyebrow quirked up as Regulus squirmed slightly under my gaze. He never was relaxed, but there was something about him that wasn't normal. The way he was fidgeting with his left sleeve a great deal more than usual, or the way he couldn't seem to look me in the eye.

At his slightly stranger behaviour, I found myself unsure whether I wanted to know what was going on. For some reason Sirius doubts about his brother were still ringing through my head. Whether I believed Regulus was capable of more than he was letting on or not, Sirius had successfully planted that first seed of doubt. I was drawn to his left arm, his forearm. That one body part that he seemed to scratch when he was nervous or slightly uncomfortable. He was scratching it again.

"Do you have plans for the Hogsmeade trip?" Regulus voice cracked causing him to have to clear his throat.

I smiled softly at him, my whole body seemed to heat up just at the thought. Was Regulus about to ask me out? Was he really going to step on his brothers toes, because that's what it would be now, right? I looked at Regulus, unsure whether I even wanted him to ask. It would all just cause unnecessary drama.

Blinking, I realised I hadn't answered Regulus; and he was staring at me, observing me as he waited. "I, um." I stammered, my heart skipping a beat as I held my breath, unsure of what was actually going on. "I'm going with the girls. Why?"

"I was hoping you'd want to hang out." Regulus' voice was strained.

Watching him, it was like he was fighting against his entire being just to ask me out. He knew I loved spending time with him, but was I ready to blow of plans with the girls for him? I don't think I could do it.

"Normally I'd love to but the girls are so excited." I was beaming despite the slightly awkward topic of conversation. "So am I actually. I can't wait to see outside of the castle properly."

Regulus' face dropped and my stomach tied itself in a knot at the sight of it. He wasn't really that disappointed, was he? We hung out almost every day. As much as I told myself that, I couldn't help but feel bad for the boy stood before me.

"One day we'll be able to walk down a corridor or street without you worrying about those friends of yours." I gave him a small punch in his shoulder only for him to tense up at the topic. "It's not always going to like this."

Regulus stared down at me, his eyes intense with something I had never seen in his face before. Worry?

"As much as I love your optimism, I don't think it's going to be that easy. Surely your friends won't mind you cancelling just this once." He started scratching at his arm, moving the sleeve to get better access to his itch. "Hogsmeade really isn't all it's cracked up to be. You won't be missing out on much."

Something on his arm caught my attention; something black that shouldn't have been there. "What's that?" I didn't move my eyes from his forearm as he tried to tug his sleeve back over it. "Don't." I grabbed his arm and yanked his sleeve up.

My blood ran cold at the sight of it. I knew instantly from the skull and the snake what it was. The jet black tattoo stared back at me as I shook my head, tears filling my eyes.

"Regulus?" My voice was barely a whisper as everything came crashing down on me.

Sirius had been right. They were all right. He was one of them. He let me fight his corner even though he'd known better. He knew I'd been fighting for something that was a lie. Had it really been a coincident that he befriended me? Did he know who my dad was? Was he only getting closer to me to get closer to someone else?

My mind swam with every bad thought, every doubt and every accusation that could have possibly been thrown at him. A tear slid down my cheek, nausea rising up inside me.

"Whatever you're thinking, it's not what it looks like." Regulus' face was filled with panic. Of course it was, I'd just founded out his bag, bad secret.

"I think that means you've done things." I pointed to the tattoo and let go of his arm, the contact scorching my skin. "Horrible things to people like me. People like my friends."

I went to step around him. I couldn't speak to him. I couldn't even look at him without wanting to scream, or throw up, or just get mad. Rather than letting me go Regulus side-stepped so he was in front of me.

"You let me think they weren't telling me the truth. You let me confide in you about things that now I'm seeing was a really stupid thing to do." I snapped. As much as I wanted my voice to be strong, I just didn't have it in me. I looked at the boy in front of me and saw nothing except the things him and his people did. "I stood up for you, over people who really were only trying to look out for me."

"Please just let me explain everything." Regulus reached out to grab my hand but I yanked out of his reach. The last thing I wanted was for him to touch me. How could I let him touch me when I didn't know what those hands had even done.

"I don't want to hear it." I snapped, finally managing to produce a sound that wasn't a pathetic whisper. "I gave you the chance to come clean. You could have admitted it and explained it all then. You chose to continue pulling the wool over my eyes." I shoved him out of the way with my shoulder before turning to face him again. "You won't ever get the chance to do that again."

I turned on my heals and stormed away from him. It felt like my stomach was in my throat as I stormed to the library, hoping that I wouldn't bump into anyone on the way. I couldn't understand how it was possible for me to be so stupid. Everyone had warned me about him and I refused to listen. I let his act fool me.

Anger bubbled up inside me and I knew I needed to get away from everyone. Suddenly, the good mood from before was gone and I knew that there was no going back now. I had to apologise to Sirius. He deserved to know that he really was right.

One final tear drizzled down my cheek before I swiped it away. I wasn't about to cry for the second Black. I had done more than enough crying for that family. I was stronger than that. There were important things I needed to focus on, and dwelling on either of the Black brothers was far from top of the list.


	14. Hogsmeade

I threaded the letter through my fingers, turning it as I got to the corner and repeating. My name was scrawled in the more beautiful, cursive script I had ever seen, and it was all I needed to see to know who it was from. I'd been getting one everyday since I found out that Regulus was a Death Eater and I didn't have to bother opening it to know what it would say.

It was be full of excuses about how I had the wrong idea. It would tell me that I didn't know what was going on, that it was more complicated than I could ever imagine. It would beg me to meet him, with a time and place just like the first letter had. Looking at my name, I wasn't sure if I was ready to know any of that. It was bad enough finding out he was a Death Eater, could I really handle why and how he became one? I didn't want to know his ulterior motives for getting close to me. Not if it was going to ruin my day.

"Are you ready, Jules?" Lily asked, giving me a warm smile as she snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Almost." I stood up from the end of my bed and went to my bedside table. As I pulled the drawer open, it was hard to miss the small pile of unopened letters, all from the same person. I placed the sixth letter from Regulus on top of the small pile and shut the drawer, my hand lingering on the handle as I fought the urge to see what he had to say for himself. I shook my head as I pulled it away. I wasn't going to read his letters filled with excuses. I wasn't about to let him hide behind a piece of parchment, if he wanted to tell me he could, face to face, and only when I was ready.

I made my way over to the mirror, giving myself a once over before we headed out. The dress I wore was red and the material was thick, the long sleeves and top half of the dress were made of a lace material, the skirt flaring out in a skater style. It made my waist look smaller and my short legs look longer, even with the thick black tights. I quickly threw on some black ankle boots with buckles on, and my leather jacket. Taking one last look at myself before I turned to Lily.

"Put some of this on," Lily threw a small, red lipstick at me, "it'll go perfectly with the dress." She came up behind me as I was putting the lipstick on and put my hair in a loose fishtail plait that came forward over my shoulder, leaving just my side fringe and a few tendrils falling down the sides of my face. She took a step back and looked at me in the mirror. "Perfect."

A smile formed on my face as moved away from the mirror and turned to Lily who looked cute in a pair of black jeans and a pale blue, turtle-neck sweater, all topped with a pair of Converse trainers. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, strands framing her face.

"You know you're going to have to speak to them, right?" Lily asked as she picked up her black, leather bag and flung it over her shoulder.

I froze at her words, not sure who she meant. It was starting to look like I had more than enough people I had to speak to. "Who?" I stammered the only word that seemed to come into my mind.

"Sirius," Lily sat down on the end of her bed, "and maybe Regulus whilst you're at it?"

My mouth and eyes both seemed to pop open at the same time. I had no idea how she even worked out that I wasn't talking to Regulus. Or that I even needed to speak to him. "What?"

"You have barely left my side since we pulled that prank." She spoke softly, calming any potential nerves that threatened to overcome me. "And don't think I haven't noticed the ever growing pile of unopened letters he's obviously sending you or the way he tries to subtly get your attention in the hall."

I threw myself onto my bed so I was lying on my back, with my arms dangling over either side. I turned my head so I was looking at Lily. "It's complicated, Lil."

"Listen, I don't know what you fell out about, but he's obviously a bit cut up about it." Lily gave me a small smile and I couldn't help but return it. "Is whatever happened really that unforgivable?"

"I don't know." I let out a small sigh and shut my eyes, covering them with my arm. "What he tells me during this talk will determine that."

Lily stood up and moved from her bed to mine. "So what's taking you so long? Go and talk to him."

I opened my eyes and looked up at her soft features. Lily was the last person I thought would ever push me to go and be friends with a suspected Death Eater, yet she was the only person who pushed to make sure I did what was best for me.

"I just," I started, unsure of how to get the words out. I sat up and crossed my legs, "what if I find out that it is unforgivable? It's easier to long it out and still have hope that our friendship is salvageable."

"Jules, you might do more damage to it by ignoring him." Lily gave my hand a small reassuring squeeze. "If you really believe that he's not all bad, maybe he's not?"

My head seemed to explode with the one hundred questions that I had been doing so well to push to the back of my mind. All of them were questions only Regulus could answer. Lily was right, there was a bigger chance that I could be pushing him away even further than I already had. Could I even believe he didn't care? He'd been there more than anyone else; was I really just going let that go?

"Only you can decide what to do. I could tell you he's bad news; how could he not be with friends like his? But then again, I don't know him like you do. In fact, I've barely said two words to the boy." Lily stood up and headed towards the door, only stopping to look at me when her hand was on the handle. "One of those friends used to be my best friends so I can see how easy it is to see the good in someone, and I know how horrible it is when everyone is warning you away. Not giving him a chance."

I was all too aware that my mouth was probably hanging open like a fish again. I would have never, in a million years, thought that Lily would be friends with one of them. Let alone best friends. And that's nothing to do with her, because anyone would wish to have her as a friend. It was all to do with the way everyone else portrayed them.

I stood up and grabbed my small, black, leather satchel and placed one arm through one of the straps so it hung off one shoulder. "What happened in the end?"

"I met Snape before we even came to Hogwarts." Lily started but stopped when she saw my mouth imitated a fish, again.

"Snape?!" I gasped unable to get over my initial shock. "As in hooked nose and greasy hair?"

"The boys call him Snivellus." Lily said as she nodded at me. "They never really got along with each other and went out of their way to make each others lives difficult. I tried defending him against Sirius and James and he called me a mudblood. I couldn't get over that. That was my choice."

I started nibbling nervously on the inside of my cheek. I wanted more than anything to be able to confide in Lily properly, but I couldn't help but think that the two situations were very different. As understanding as she was, how could I ask her to try and understand that he was definitely a Death Eater, and that I was debating overlooking it. I needed to talk to someone about it, but I just couldn't help but think that Lily wasn't the best choice for that.

"Thank you, for understanding." I sent her the best fake smile I could muster up. "But I think we better go join Alice." I laughed as I threw Lily's coat at her. "We'll never hear the end of it if we don't get to her," I looked at my wrist, pretending I had a watch on, "ten minutes ago."

The pair of us shared a giggle before heading down to the common room, where Alice was waiting with none other than the person I still needed to speak to her about. Well, him and his whole posse. I let out a small sigh as I realised that they'd been waiting for us the whole time. So much for our girls day out.

"It's about time!" Alice cried as soon as she saw us. I couldn't help but laugh at her theatrics. "I thought I'd been stood up." She jumped up off the sofa, excitedly yanking James out of the seat beside her as she did.

"We wouldn't stand you up and leave you with this bunch." Lily gestured towards the boys but there was a twinkle in her eye, and one side of her mouth twitched upwards a millimetre. "I'm not about to subject you to that sort of torture."

"Lily, you wound me." Sirius cried out, clutching at his heart as he threw himself on the sofa.

Alice didn't waste a second in dragging him off so he was sat in a heap on the floor. "Oh no you don't. They've already kept us waiting." She gestured to me and Lily before looking eagerly towards the portrait hole. "I'm not letting a single one of you waste any more of our Hogsmeade time."

Before we knew it, Alice had reared us out of the common room and we were finally making out way off of the school grounds. We quickly got to a road that was more like a dirt-track and the group seemed to split into three groups.

Sirius and James were at the front of the group, both of them letting out raucous laughter at regular intervals. Alice was basically skipping, her arm linked with Peter's, forcing him to match her pace. Then there was Lily and Remus who I was gladly in the middle of.

"What do you miss the most?" Remus looked over to me as Lily linked her arm through my own.

"That's easy." I smiled at him as excitement started building up within me. "My music and my animals." My smile grew wider as I thought back to the last time I held a guitar in my hands and the last time I saw my two pets.

"You play?" Lily looked at me as though this was something she should have known.

I nodded enthusiastically. "Joe's mum was very into her music so she taught him guitar and piano from a very young age. And I always thought being able to play the guitar would be awesome so Joe taught me. My dad didn't really think that it was a helpful thing to spend my time doing, so I only never ended up getting my own. What was the point when I wouldn't be able to take it home, you know?"

"You're dad sounds-" Lily abruptly cut herself off, as though she'd just realised she was about to say something she shouldn't.

I smiled and shook my head slightly. "He's strict, but he's really not that bad. He just thought I was better off spending my time studying or training."

"Training? For what?" Remus asked.

"My dad travelled a lot before we came here." I started explaining. "He's seen a lot of horrible things around the world and he just made sure I wasn't defenceless. That and to get me ready for next year. I'm going to be more than ready to start Auror training. I have my very own walking syllabus whenever he's home."

The three of us all fell in step with each other as Lily proceeded to tell us about how she's applied for a programme where she'd make potions for St. Mungo's. As the conversation steered towards Remus the atmosphere seemed to change.

Remus tensed up as he thought about his answer. It was as though he still hadn't decided what he was even going to do once we graduated.

"I still haven't decided." His voice quavered.

"You're going to miss the deadlines if you're not quick." Lily gasped, her eyes opening wider than usual as she looked at Remus. "You're going to get the grades to do whatever you want."

"I'll figure it out in time." Remus assured her with a grin. His body relaxed as he flashed her a smile. "I promise, Lily, I won't miss the deadlines."

"Mama Lily, at it again." I announced as I bumped into Lily with my hip.

Lily gasped at me as she spun her head in my direction. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you mother everyone." Remus let out a throaty chuckle. "Don't worry though, we wouldn't change you for the world."

"I should hope not." Lily scoffed at the pair of us jokingly. "You lot need someone to make sure you're taking care of yourselves. Sometimes I'm not sure how you ever survived without me."

"It's definitely got more interesting with you lot hanging around." The smallest smirk appeared on his lips. It was that smirk that showed exactly how she fit in with the others.

I laughed loudly at his delusion. "Interesting is one word for it!"

"And I think you'll find it's the other way around." Lily winked at me before facing forward. "You're the ones always showing up without acknowledging whether we even want you here."

"Don't act like you don't like us around, Petal." Sirius shouted to us from up ahead. "Don't think I haven't noticed the way your eyes light up every time-" James punched him in the arm to cut off whatever he was saying. "OW!"

Alice and I giggled at Sirius' lack of discretion whilst Lily turned the shade of a beetroot. The back of James' neck seemed to to turn a light shade of pink.

"Juliet!" A voice called from behind us.

I inwardly groaned as everyone, including Sirius turned to face the source of the noise. It was his reaction that was the most noticeable. His whole body seemed to tense; his jaw clenched together, his hands curled into tight fists and his eyes turned cold.

I didn't bother turning around, instead I quickly told Lily to go on whilst I slowed to a pace that Regulus could catch me up. It didn't take long for him to catch me up, one of his strides was the same as two of mine.

"Can we not do this right now?" I sighed when he caught up with me. I quickly sped up my pace, not wanting the others to get too far ahead. I was more than aware of Sirius' eyes on me the entire time and tried to look anywhere but at him.

"This can't wait." His voice sounded desperate. His hand grasped the crook of my elbow and pulled me to a stop.

I took a deep breath and steeled my nerves. Finally turning to face him I was met with a very tired Slytherin. The dark bags under his eyes stood out against his pale skin and guilt rose up within me. Was I the reason he obviously hadn't been sleeping?

"Listen, Regulus." I glanced around us, and noticed that my group of friends had stopped, all their eyes on me.

Alice was watching with her eyes and mouth hanging open, making it more than clear that she was the only one who didn't know I even knew 'the other brother'. James was muttering something under his breath, in what I can only assume was an attempt to stop Sirius from storming over.

"We'll meet up this evening and talk about everything then. I promise." I looked him in the eyes which were filled with concern and, panic?

His eyes darted around behind me as he searched the faces of the students for his fellow Slytherins. My heart sank, as it only proved to me that he really wasn't who I thought he was. Of course he was worried about being seen with me. I was hanging out with the biggest group of blood traitors in the school. I was one of them, and he knew it.

"Jules, you don't understand." His eyes changed from panicked to pleading, begging me to hear him out then. "You need to know."

It wasn't that I didn't want to, because I did. But I wasn't about to let anyone ruin my one day out of the castle. I was finally in a good mood, with news about my mother, the trip and finally a decent atmosphere between the group. Whatever he had to say could wait until I'd spent time with my friends.

I shook my head and gave him a sad smile. "Please, Reg. I'm not doing this here." His eyes darted around the area again. "You better go before anyone spots you with me." I said with a humourless laugh. "Merlin forbid any of your buddies know we're supposed to be friends."

Not waiting for him to reply, I rushed to join the others who were still watching me.

"What did he want?" Sirius spat, his eyes not moving from Regulus.

"Nothing that can't wait." I shrugged and pushed past him to start walking in the direction we had been before.

Alice and Lily ran to catch up with me. "When did that start happening?" Alice seemed genuinely confused that Regulus even knew my name.

My heart swelled as I looked at Lily. The more I spent time with her, the more I realised that there wasn't a bad bone in her body. She'd kept everything she'd found out to herself, even though her and Alice were clearly closer than Lily and myself.

"You remember when James littered the dorm with rose petals?" I flashed her an apologetic smile when her mouth dropped open.

"And I'm the only person who didn't know?" She looked slightly taken aback and hurt at her lack of involvement.

I linked my arm through hers, pulling her closer to me so I could half hug her as we walked. "The boys only know because Sirius found out."

"And I overheard Sirius talking to Ja...Potter about it." Lily admitted as she pulled her ponytail over her shoulder. "And that was only last week."

Alice huffed through her nose as she looked between me and Lily. She must have found what she was looking for as her body relaxed and it was like she had suddenly reverted back to her bouncy self. "Fine, I guess I forgive you both." She leant her head on my shoulder briefly. "But if I find out either of you have kept anything from me again we're going to have big issues. Do you understand?"

A laugh bubbled up from my throat and we both nodded at Alice, grateful that she really was that easy-going.

"Oh, whilst we're talking about things we overheard." I piped up, slyly looking at Alice out of the corner of my eyes. "You didn't have to make Sirius apologise. I'd pretty much accepted that he was a jerk."

Alice's eyebrows shoot up, as though they were trying to get as close to her hairline as they could. "I didn't make him apologise." Realisation seemed to sink in as she let out a simple 'Ahh' before glancing over her shoulder at the boys. "I just told him you were going through some stuff and that he didn't have to keep being an arrogant dick. The apology, that was all on him."

"Oh." The sound was barely even a whisper, instead coming out sounding like I breath. I turned to look over my shoulder to catch James and Sirius deep in conversation, the latter's brows were furrowed at the direction of the discussion.

Suddenly he looked at, his eyes locking onto mine for a split second until I turned back to watch where I was going.

It wasn't long until the boys had overtaken us again, at which Alice took the opportunity to head away from us and towards the boys.

We all giggled as she ran at James and jumped onto his back, giving him no choice but to give her a piggy bag ride.

"I know Alice is, well, Alice." I murmured to Lily with a slight giggle in my voice. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the happy girl a few yards ahead. There was something mesmerising about her laughing and just enjoying life. "But I've never seen her like this."

Lily giggled slightly and turned her eyes to Alice and James, her face falling just the smallest amount. She was more than aware of what her face was doing and Lily quickly smiled warmly at me, finally moving her eyes off the laughing pair in front of us. "She gets like this every Hogsmeade trip."

"Like a little kid at Christmas?" I linked my arm back through Lily's as our steps fell in time with hers.

"Exactly." Lily glanced back towards the pair, but I had a feeling it was Alice she was observing. Not just a feeling; I'd put all my money on the fact that it was James who had her attention. She snapped herself out of whatever she was thinking, pink creeping up her cheeks. "Frank comes to meet her if he's not working."

"And let me guess, he's not working today?"

"Bingo!"

It felt as though the journey was over before it had even started. It wasn't long until we came across the first small, thatched cottage, after that they came at regular intervals until we finally came across the first small shop. As we walked past it, it was impossible not to know what it was. Any wizard who had ever been near an owl would recognise the smell of the post office. My nose wrinkled in disgust as we continued down the high street.

Third years were chattering away to each other excitedly as they ran from shop to shop, trying to see as much as they could, as quickly as they could. As I looked around the street I could understand why they were acting like that. I couldn't take in what was around me quick enough. From Honeydukes, a sweet shop on the right, to Zonko's, a joke shop, it was easy to see why everyone had been so excited about the visit.

The boys seemed to have no problem in deciding where to go, and without so much as a goodbye, they were gone. All of them, apart from Remus, were pushing their way through the small crowd of people who were attempting to get into the shop themselves. Remus, however, decided to stay with Lily and myself, as we slowly wandered around the street so I could take everything in.

"Girls, Remus," Alice's face lit up when her eyes landed on something; or rather, someone, "we'll meet up with you for lunch." She didn't bother waiting for a reply, instead she threw a wave over her shoulder and disappeared towards a busy pub.

A small smile flitted onto my face as I watched her embrace someone, who I could only assume was Frank. He looked like a giant next to petite Alice. He was at least a head smaller than her and it was clear, even from a distance, that he worked out or had a very physical job. His hair looked light brown and was cropped short. As Alice wrapped her arms around his neck, he picked her up, holding her against his body as they shared a kiss.

With Remus in tow, Lily gave me the grand tour of Hogsmeade. I must have spent a fortune on chocolate, dungbombs and a few other surprises for the joke shop. Luckily, Lily managed to distract Remus the whole time so he didn't have a clue what he was in for. They made sure they took me everywhere, including this horrible little place where we got a coffee. How the three of us managed to fit onto a table, I'll never know.

I hadn't laughed so much in a long time, and had finally gotten to know Remus on a different level. He was definitely the level-headed one out of the boys. He was humble and a bit unsure of himself, but it was easy to see how he did fit in with the boys. There were moments when he'd just pop out of his shell and have both Lily and myself in stitches.

Before I knew it we were making our way through The Three Broomsticks, squeezing our way through the throngs of students scattered around, filling up almost every table. Remus barely looked where he was going as he directed us to a table in one of the corners that would only just fit all of us around it.

Lily and I sat there whilst Remus went to the bar to get drinks, coming back with not only a drink for everyone, but with James, Peter and Sirius in tow too.

The additions to our perfectly fine group seemed to change the tension in the air. Lily seemed to clam up and started nibbling on her thumb nail whilst the three boys told Remus everything they'd been up to.

"So she asked him on a date!" Sirius' whole face had lit up as he looked from Remus to James. "And he said yes!"

"Prongs is finally going on a date!" Peter also had a grin on his face.

Surprisingly, James didn't seem so happy about the turn of events as I would have expected. He ran his hand nervously through his hair, pointedly avoiding looking in Lily's direction. Lily seemed to be finding her finger nails very interested. A slight crease of her forehead, and the way her lips pursed together were the only evidence that she had even heard what the boys were talking about.

As though she had a sixth sense, Alice appeared out of nowhere, steering the conversation away from James' dating life. She briefly introduced me to Frank, who seemed just as lovely as everyone had said, if not lovelier.

Once everyone had eaten and light conversation spread across the table, everyone laughing and joking with each other. There was finally no snidey comments, not glares and best of all. No Marlene.

Rather than getting involved in the conversation, I found myself silently watching everyone. They way they were all quickly becoming the family I didn't want to live without. As my eyes landed on Sirius he looked up, his face dropping slightly. I took a deep breath and sent him a small smile. "A word?"

His eyes narrowed for a moment before he nodded and stood up. He made his way around the table and waited for me to make my move and join him. I overtook him, making my way to the entrance so we wouldn't be overheard by nosey students.

He was close on my heels, his hand going to rest on the small of my back to make sure we stayed together. Butterflies erupted in my stomach causing me to internally scold myself for still reacting to his touch.

We finally made our way outside where it was starting to drizzle. Sirius made his way towards a bench where he took a seat without a word.

"What's up?" He asked when I finally joined him, looking around as I did.

I sighed, took in a deep breath and readied myself for a conversation I really didn't want to have. In that moment I couldn't decide if it was even the right thing to do in telling him about his brother. Was it really fair on Regulus to tell Sirius? Especially seeing as I hadn't even given him the chance to explain it yet.

Then I thought of Joe, and how I'd like to know if he was, whether we fell out or not. I knew it wasn't the same, but he was basically my brother and I would want to know if my suspicions were true if I had any.

"It's about Regulus." I looked ahead of me, not wanting to see the look on Sirius' face when I told him.

"What about him, Juliet?"

"I...um..." I stuck the end of my thumb in my mouth, nibbling at the end of the already sore nail. "You were right."

"What?"

I sighed at the thought of having to explain it to him. He was normally so good at catching on to what people were saying, especially when they didn't want him to. Yet there he was making me spell it out. I glanced up and him and noticed a slight gleam in his eyes and I found myself frowning at him in turn.

"He's a Death Eater."

His lips twitched upwards as though he was trying his hardest not to smirk at me. He really was enjoying finding out he was right way too much when he should have been worried about his brother!

"So now you believe me." Sirius let out a small laugh. "What made you change your mind."

"I saw the mark."

"Wait." Sirius' face dropped as his eyes flew to my face. "He's been marked?!" His fists clenched tight, his knuckles turning white at the pressure.

My stomach dropped as I watched Sirius' normal care-free facade drop. It was odd seeing him so worked up. It's like in that split second everything became too real for him. He finally had the evidence he needed to know what he had thought for Merlin knows how long and he wasn't taking it well.

"God dammit!" He grimaced as he smashed his hand against the bench. I could see all the hope he had for Regulus drift away. It was like all he needed was that one piece of information to be able to truly give up on him. "He's a fucking idiot!" He got up off the bench and started pacing back and forth in front of me. "You're definitely sure?"

I nodded at him, giving him a small, sad smile as I did. "It's the reason we haven't spoken all week."

"He actually did it." Sirius was shaking his head back and forth as he paced. You could see the pain in his face. This was it, he'd finally and completely lost his brother. That was how it was to him. There was no going back.

My heart broke for the two brothers as I thought about the different roads they had taken that was driving them apart.

"You can't just accept it." I snapped, my mind finally made up about the whole situation. "It doesn't mean anything. Surely there's a way for him to get out. We can help him."

"Death. That's the only way out for him now." Sirius collapsed onto the bench beside me.

My stomach churned at his words, nausea hitting me hard. He had to be wrong. I couldn't accept that Regulus was a lost cause. I wasn't going to just let him be surrounded by so much darkness. That had to be something we could work out. Some way to make sure that he would be fine.

Suddenly _pop_ 's could be heard from all around us.

It was like they appeared out of nowhere. Well, I guess that's exactly what they did. Apparated into the middle of the square and instantly getting down to business; jeering, taunting and cursing people. Every single one of them wore black hooded cloaks, and horrible white masks that covered their faces.

Death Eaters.

I shoved Sirius out of the way, just in time for a curse to fly past, right where his head would have been. "You have got to be kidding me!" I grabbed my wand from inside my jacket and scanned the area making sure to count them all. Fifteen, that were still in the area. I didn't have a clue if any had fanned out, disappearing out of the centre of the high street.

At the sight of them screams filled the air. Everything turned to chaos. It's like, the sudden appearance of them had somehow made the whole street darker and colder. Just their presence was enough to turn everybody's blood to ice.

Gripping my wand tightly I ran towards a small group of third years all huddled in a doorway. "Get into the pub and get help!" I shouted at them, pointing to The Three Broomsticks. I silently cast a shield, a curse hitting it the second it went up. "NOW!"

The three students eyes went wide as the scrambled to get into the pub. I focussed all of my attention on the Death Eaters, watching as they each split up to terrorise more people. A blood-curdling scream came from somewhere to my left. It was unlike anything I had ever heard; something I would never be able to forget. I couldn't turn to find out who it was though. It wouldn't have ended well.

One Death Eater, the one who had tried to attack the younger students, was now making their way closer to me. They had tufts of dark unruly hair sticking out the sides of their hood, but other than that there were no signs of what they looked like. It was impossible to even know whether they were male or female.

"What do we have here?" They spoke in a shrill voice. Just the sound of it sent shivers down my back.

My eyes followed hers to land on Sirius, who was now on his feet with his own wash brandished. He sent a stunning spell in the direction of a Death Eater, quickly throwing up a shield immediately afterwards. Watching him duelling was somewhat hypnotising. I quickly shook the thoughts out of my head in time to catch the girl turning back towards me.

"Fresh meat?" She let out a chilling cackle as she shot the first of a string of curses.

Without a second thought I threw a shield up and dived back in the direction I had come from. It was only a matter of time until she had me backed into the doorway. Once I was back on my feet I threw stunning and disarming curse, much to no avail.

As I defended myself from her viscous, continuing attacks she pranced about, cackling and jeering at me. My stomach tied itself in knots as I realised just how mental the woman was. Whilst people were there, fighting to survive, she seemed to be finding pleasure in the chaos around us.

"Cousin!" She beamed, her voice filling with excitement.

Just as she spoke I felt something brush against my arm. My whole body went stiff as I shot round, my wand following my line of site. I let out a breath of relief when I came face to face with Sirius, his eyes and wand on the Death Eater prancing around in front of us. I quickly followed suit, ignoring the screams of terror and pain going on around me. Flashes of green and red flew around the now busy street.

"As much as I'd love to stand around and chat," Sirius shouted to her with a smirk on his face, "you're voice has always got on my last nerve!" With that a duel erupted between the three of us, not that I needed to be there. Sirius was more than capable of holding his own.

I looked around, trying to find anyone that needed help, when I spotted a body lying on the floor across the way. "You alright here?" I shouted just before I hit a Death Eater, coming from the other of Sirius, with a leg-locking jinx.

"I'll be fine." He shouted back just as a curse scraped his wand arm. He clasped his wound with his other hand but his concentration didn't waver once. "Go!" He shouted threw clenched teeth; the only indication that he was in any pain.

I took off at a run, ducking between people until I got to the black mound on the floor. Making sure I kept one eye on everything that was going on around me, I knelt to the ground and turned the body to find a small girl I didn't recognise. I dragged her out of the way so she wasn't in the middle of the brawl just as scattered popping sounded as Aurors finally showed up.

Once I was sure she was safe I ran back to the action, where I was pleased to come face to face with Aurors, teachers and a few seventh year students scattered around. I scanned the faces and ran towards the one I recognised the most. He was ordering Aurors to incarcerate any Death Eaters when he turned to face me.

"Daddy." I kept my voice even as I nodded once in his direction.

"Jules." His eyes went slightly wide at the state of me covered in soot and dirt. "Get all the students together and back to school, now!" His voice was authoritative and I knew there was no arguing with him.

Turning away from him I weaved in and out of some teachers until I got to Lily and James. The former was covered in dirt, her hair had been pulled out of it's ponytail. James had a cut going down his cheek and was favouring one of his legs.

"Guys, we need to get everyone we can back to the school." I put my hand on Lily's arm to get her attention.

Suddenly something hit me and I was flying across the road. Pain coursing up from my ribs as I fell to the floor, my head smashing against it as I landed. It was like my head was being split in two; my vision went blurry and everything sounded muffled. It was like I was underwater, only I could breath.

I was hit with another spout of pain, this time it coursed through my entire body. The pain was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was like fire was pulsating through my veins, getting into every single part of my body. A cry of excruciating pain filled my ears. It took a moment to work out that the strangled sounds were coming from me. Finally, the pain eased a bit and my fuzzy vision went completely black.

I could still hear what was going on around me; to a point. There was another scream, this time further away. I could hear heavy footsteps all around me, curses hitting walls and people. It was mayhem and I couldn't even see what was going on. It all started fading away. I tried clinging onto a sound, any sound, so that I could stay conscious but everything just drifted further and further away until everything was silent.

 **A/N: Big thank you to everyone who reviewed. For those who have mentioned, we won't be seeing Sirius and Jules getting friendlier until Jules gets her answers as to why he was such an idiot! And you should have some more answers in the next chapter!**

 **You're all amazing. Mwah!**

 **xx**


	15. Honesty

**A/N: Firstly, I'm sorry this is late! I got a bit behind because it was my birthday last week, and then my partner surprised me by taking me away this weekend. I'm furiously writing away as we speak to get ahead and ready for your next updates to start weekly again on Wednesday :)**

 **Big, big, big shout out to everybody who has left reviews. As someone pointed out, only four until we have 100! You guys are absolutely amazing. I love you all! Shout out to Louise who read and reviewed every chapter in like an hour! I've never known someone who can read that fast! For those who asked, I pictured Jules as looking like Chloe Grace Moretz. Will see if I can get my artwork from another site I upload this to onto this site.**

 **And to the reviewer about the Disney reference. The Little Mermaid, I was actually watching it with my daughter when I read your review.**

 **I hope you all enjoy this chapter. As from the next one there will be bigger time jumps to move the story along a bit more :) Enjoy guys!**

Everything was black, as I slowly regained consciousness. I could only tell because the sounds that I had been so desperate to cling onto finally seemed to be coming back. The voices I could hear were muffled and far away, but I did everything in my power to prevent them from disappearing again.

The harder I tried to identify the sounds, the more it felt like there was a brick on my head, which only got worse as sunlight finally started to filter into my vision. My head exploded when I opened my eyes, the light blinding my already fragile eyes. I couldn't make anything out apart from large, blurred shapes moving in the distance. Panic washed over me as I scrunched my eyes back shut before opening and closing them again. Nothing, just blurriness was all I could see. I couldn't work out where I was, the muffled sounds around me playing no part in settling my nerves.

A sharp pain from my ribs was enough to knock the wind out of me as I tried, and failed to pull myself up. Nausea took over as I settled on my back, my vision slowly clearing up. It was like I was going through a tunnel, pushing through all the injuries and sickness to find out what was going on.

I couldn't think straight. I had no idea where I was or what had happened. The voices that were around me started getting closer, their words getting clearer and their voices becoming recognisable.

I looked to my right to find Lily's worried green eyes peering down at me. "Jules!" She cried, not bothering to stop a single tear from cascading down her face. "Oh, thank God, Jules!" She choked back a sob but a small smile appeared on her face, relief filling her voice.

I opened my mouth to say something but my brain was still hazy and a groan came out of my mouth instead. I went to hold my head, flinching as the motion caused the pain in my ribs to flair up again.

My eyes finally focussed on what was going on around us. Lily was crouched down beside me, her wand in one hand and mine in her other. When I looked passed her I was surprised to see James and Sirius standing between us and the action, making sure that no one got to my aching body.

With a cry of pain I pushed myself up, holding my ribs in some feeble attempt to ease the pain that was only growing the longer I was awake.

"Don't move." Lily placed her hands gently on my shoulders and pushed me back as softly as she could without jolting my body.

"Lily." I warned, shrugging her off of me. Pain shot up my side as I pushed myself onto my knees. My breathing was quickly becoming shallow as I tried to push through the pain, only making it worse for myself. "Just help me up. Please."

She looked down at me, obviously torn about what she should do. With a brisk shake of her head she placed her hand back on my shoulder. "Let someone have a look at you first. We don't know how back your injuries are."

"It's just my ribs." My hand stayed on them protectively, as though the support could help lessen my struggles. "It's nothing serious."

"You can barely move, Jules." Lily wasn't having any of it. "We don't know the extent of your injuries."

I let out an irritated groan and shoved her hand off my shoulder. "If you won't help then get out of my way!" I snapped, not letting myself look at her face so I didn't see the hurt evidence on it.

Ignoring how much pain I was in, I pushed myself onto my feet, stumbling as I did. I let out a cry of pain when a pair of hands caught my sides to stop me from falling. I shoved the second persons hands away, unable to deal with being touched by anyone.

I turned to look around at the scene before me, only to be met by two worried, grey eyes. "Careful." He kept his arms outstretched, as if making to catch me in case I lost unconsciousness again.

With a scowl I turned away from him, dizziness almost putting me back on my ass. Looking around was when I noticed a Death Eater heading towards the alley I had placed the unconscious child before I'd passed out. Without a word to anyone I snatched my wand from Lily and pushed through the pain to get to the girl before it was too late.

I didn't think about what I must look like, stumbling around, unsteady on my feet. I had no idea what I was thinking, following someone into an alley, when I was clearly in no shape for a duel. Clutching my side, I sped up to a jog, trying not to jostle myself too much.

I rounded the corner to find the Death Eater knelt to the side of the girl. Without a second thought I'd aimed my wand at the Death Eater and shot a disarming spell at him, sending his wand flying out of his hands and landing at my feet.

A quiet chuckle came from them, his lack of wand apparently doing nothing to dampen his confidence in whatever he was doing. It was only when he turned around to face me that his composure slipped. His eyes went wide, eyes that I'd seen only moments before. A pair of eyes that I had grown so accustomed to that it was impossible for me not to know who it was.

I narrowed my eyes and placed my foot over his wand. "Regulus." I whispered, trying my best to hide not only my shock and confusion, but how much pain I was really in. "I should have known." I spoke through gritted teeth. I did all I could to ignore the ache in my heart to see him dressed in that mask that brought nothing but terror upon people.

"Juliet." He took a step towards me, his eyes running up and down my body. "You're hurt."

"No thanks to you." I snapped, struggling to hide my disappointment. Of course, I knew he wasn't innocent, but to actually see him on the other side of the law. Aurors were there to capture him. He was only a boy. My anger seemed to calm down as my heart broke for the boy, my conflicted feelings were enough to fluster me.

"I tried to tell you." Regulus kept his hands where I could see them so I knew he wasn't a threat. "This is the last thing I ever wanted." By this point he was stood directly in front of me, his mask still obscuring his face.

Just the sight of him in that mask and hood was enough to make my heart sink. "And seeing you like this is the last thing I ever wanted." I repeated his words hoping they'd make an impact on him. My voice had lost all of it's harshness as Regulus closed the gap between us, his hand reaching up to touch a sensitive spot on the side of my head. I flinched away from him but it didn't deter him as he gently looked over my cuts and scrapes.

"We need to get you back to school."

Tears filled my eyes as I looked up at him. He was the same kind, caring and loveable boy that I had grown to know, except he was so different at the same time. How could he be my Regulus, as well as this cold-hearted terrorist that my dad was after?

"What were you going to do to her?" I nodded my head in the girls direction, not taking my eyes of Regulus'.

His hand dropped to his side as he looked briefly back at the girl. "This isn't the time or place to have this conversation." His eyes rested on me again. They were soft and, if I'm not mistaken, apologetic? "You need to get out of here."

"I'm not leaving her with you." I let out a humourless laugh that caused me to take a sharp intake of breath at the pain in my ribs. I collapsed against the wall, trying to steady my breathing to steady the throbbing ache.

Regulus let out a sigh before he reach towards me to lead me away from the alley. I shook my head and stood my ground, not letting him move me.

"You really are impossible. Let me help you." He removed his mask, his face suddenly acting like a source of comfort.

I shook my head at him, putting my hand up to stop him from coming closer. "Only if you let me help you too."

"I've already told you. It's too late for that." Regulus' voice was low as he whispered to me. His eyes were focussed on something over my shoulder and he quickly bent down to pick his wand up that I'd forgotten about. Before I knew it he had shot someone to the other side of the alley.

It was only when I turned my back to Regulus that I saw who he had hit. Not that I could tell exactly who it was, but the costume was enough for me to know that I couldn't stay here and wait for him to wake up.

"You need to get out of here before you get me killed!" Regulus snapped, shoving his mask back on as he bent down to check on the other Death Eater. He pointed his wand at the guys head. "Obliviate." He glanced up to look at me. "Take her and go!"

"They're trying to capture as many of you as possible. You need to get out of here too." I warned as I cast a spell on the girl to carry her out of the alley way as I hobbled behind her, leaving Regulus in the alley.

When I looked around now it seemed that most of the Death Eaters had disappeared, leaving behind the Aurors to clean up their mess. I looked behind me one last time, expecting to still see Regulus but he had disappeared, the unconscious body had gone with him.

I quickly placed the girls body on the floor before taking her hand and apparating to the closest point I could get to the school.

It was as though I was in a tight, rubber tube; everything squeezing together. I let out a cry of pain as the pain in my ribs amplified, my arms helplessly trying to protect them. It was only when my two feet were planted firmly on the ground that I felt them give out, any pain I felt disappearing along with my consciousness.

* * *

This time when I came too I was in completely unsure of where I was. The room was dim and quiet, the smell of antiseptic filling my nostrils. I pushed myself up, bracing myself for the sharp pain in my ribs to cripple me but it never came. Instead, a dull ache came from that area.

"Don't push yourself too much." Lily's sweet voice came from beside me. "Your bones are mending as we speak so you don't want to strain yourself too much."

My heart swelled as I looked at her. She was yet to sort herself out, dust still covered her entire body. Her hair had completely lost it's colour, and there was a small cut on her eyebrow that was no longer bleeding.

"I'm sorry." I whispered as everything slowly came back to me. I remembered how I snapped at her, how she had only been trying to look out for me and I just threw it in her face. "I shouldn't have spoken to you like that."

"Forget about it." Lily shrugged, her face as kind as always. "Everyone's emotions were heightened, we weren't thinking straight."

She was always so accepting. It didn't matter what was going on, I knew I could always count on Lily to not get caught up in her emotions. Where others would react rashly, she would always look at the bigger picture.

"What did I do to deserve a friend like you?" I returned her warm smile.

"You're just one of the lucky few." Her mouth turned up at one side as she winked at me before turning to glance at the door.

"Where's my dad?" It suddenly hit me that he was nowhere to be seen. He wouldn't have just forgotten about me, would he?

Lily turned her attention back to me as she moved from the chair to take a seat on the side of my bed. "He had to speak to Professor Dumbledore. He should be back soon."

At that precise moment the door to the infirmary swung open. My dad stormed through the doors, not stopping until he got to my bedside. Lily quickly said her goodbyes before scuttling off out of the room.

He didn't sit down, he didn't say anything. Instead, he looked me over, making sure everything was alright. When he was finally assured that I was alright he finally stood beside my bed, looking down at me with a stern look.

"What have I told you about staying focussed?" Dad's voice was harsher than usual, harsher than I could ever recall him speaking to me. "It's not hard. You let your guard down when you were surrounded by people wanting to hurt you."

I looked up at him, tears forming in my eyes. Swallowing the lump in my throat I found my head shaking from side to side. "I'm sorry Daddy."

"Sorry wouldn't have brought you back if you things had gone worse." He sat down in the chair beside my bed and let out a long sigh. "You're mum doesn't need this right now. I don't need this right now. We have enough to worry about without adding your safety into it."

"Look at me." I sat myself up, making sure not to react to the dull ache of my ribs fusing back together. "I'm fine." I reassured him, flashing him my most winning smile as I did.

"What were you even doing there anyway?" His voice didn't once lose it's harshness but his eyes softened as he finally looked at my face for the first time since he'd walked in. "Why weren't you getting help?"

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, frustration suddenly surging within me. "I was helping! This is what you've trained me for. Why would I sit back and let it go to waste?"

"No, Juliet. That training isn't for you to play hero. It's to be used in matters of life or death." His voice was slowly getting louder as he got more irritated at me for my lack of vigilance. "

"What are you going to do next year? Tell me to stand on the sidelines whilst everyone else gets their hands dirty?" I snapped at him for the first time ever. My eyes flew open in shock at the harshness in my voice. Dad's face seemed to match my own. "You need to get used to it Dad. I am going to be an Auror, whether you like it or not. I'm more than capable of being out there."

"If you were more than capable you wouldn't have gotten yourself hurt!" Dad stood up from the chair, glaring down at me. "You're just a child. A war is no place for a child!"

"So go and tell the others that then!" A tear fell down my cheek as I looked at my father, his cold, sunken eyes seemed to be getting worse every time I saw him. "I wasn't the only 'child' out there today! And if it wasn't for us, there would have been a lot more injuries than there is."

"You're right, you weren't. But you were the one that got the worst injuries." He sat on the side of my bed and held my hand. "Stop rushing to get involved in all of this. Make the most of what is left of your childhood because next year isn't going to be pretty. You don't want this life. Trust me. I can't lose you too, Jules."

My heart stopped at his words and I threw myself into his arms without another word. "You won't." I ignored the dull aches in my body as his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me closer to him. "But you haven't lost Mom either." I comforted him, all the anger faded away as I saw my dad for the vulnerable man he was, rather than the strong, man of the house he normally was. "You need to start looking after yourself though. It can't be easy on her seeing you like this."

"You're not there, Jules." His hand ran up and down my back, in the same way he used to whenever I had a nightmare when I was little. "It's not easy watching her get weaker."

"You won't let me be there." I kept my voice soft, silently relieved that we were finally talking about it properly. It was the first time I'd seen him since he'd given me the awful news and all I wanted to do was find out exactly what was going on. I couldn't ask though, just looking at the state him gave me answers. He'd never been this bad, even when she was ill in the past.

"You deserve your childhood." He pulled away from me but everything about him was suddenly softer. "I'm not about to snatch it away from you, especially when we're on the brink of a war. I can cope with looking after your mother."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "It doesn't look like it. When was the last time you had a decent meal?" Pointing out his dramatic weight loss.

"Probably around the same time you did." He stood me up and took a proper look at me. "School is meant to be the time of your life. What has you so worked up you're not eating?"

I let out a small laugh, watching my dad visibly relax at the sound. "You forced me to come to this school, then proceeded to tell me my mother is dying. I think I'm allowed to skip a couple of meals, don't you?"

His face dropped and my heart suddenly dropped to my stomach. "I'm sorry, Dad. That was insensitive. I'll start looking after myself." I promised as I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

Dad leant forward and gave me a small kiss on my forehead. "I'll see you soon. I love you."

"I love you too."

With that he flashed me one last sad smile before he made his way out of the infirmary. He reached out to grab the door handle, pausing when someone got his attention.

"Mr Bryce." A voice from the other side of the curtain called out. A voice I knew all too well. "Can I have a quick word, please?"

I let out a groan, not bothering to cover it up, when my father stopped, turning to face the source of the boy. "Everything alright, Son?" He'd put his professional voice back on. His back was straight as he turned in the direction of Sirius' voice.

"If it's any consolation, Sir," Sirius started, he too seemed to be taking on the same air as Dad, "if it wasn't for Jules, I'm not too sure I'd even be alive right now."

I let out the breath I'd been holding and relaxed back into my pillow. It was the last thing I had expected to hear, yet it was the one thing that managed to settle my nerves a bit. Knowing I was fighting was always going to rub my dad up the wrong way, but knowing I actually did some good. He couldn't ignore what was right in front of him.

"And I'm not the only one that she helped." He continued, not giving my father a chance to even reply to him. "She's better than you give her credit for. You should go easier on her."

There was a shuffle of feet as my dad turned around to face Sirius and I felt myself cringe at the image. I could only imagine the stony look he was giving him; I'd seen it many times during my training sessions with him.

"What is your name, Boy?" It was clear from his voice that he didn't appreciate Sirius telling him how he should act.

"Sirius Black, Sir."

Dad scoffed, making it clear he knew all about Sirius' family. "Well, maybe if my daughter spent her time looking out for herself, rather than helping the likes of the Black family, she wouldn't have been injured."

"Dad!"

"With all due respect, you don't know what you're talking about." Sirius' voice was full of confidence as he contradicted Dad.

My stomach was in my chest as I listened to them both. I knew Sirius meant well, but he really was going to make it all so much worse. My dad was hard enough to get through on the best of days. He obviously knew all the names of the families that sympathised with Voldemort, of course he knew of Sirius' family.

"And neither do you." He was losing his patience now; it was apparent in the tone of his voice. "Jules is lucky that they didn't decide to just kill her then and there. All it takes is for your attention to waver just once for something to go wrong. It wouldn't have mattered whether she was helping you or not if she was dead."

"But she's not dead!" Sirius' voice was gradually raising in volume. How Madam Pomfrey didn't come out I had no idea. "Rather than getting on her case, why don't you use it as a lesson. She did good out there, maybe you should acknowledge it."

I kicked my legs over the edge of my bed and jumped out of it. My legs crumbled as I put all my weight on them, taking a moment for them not to act like jelly. Once I finally had control of my legs I threw open the curtain splitting me and Sirius, shocked to find James lying in the bed and Sirius standing in front of the chair facing my dad.

"Sirius, stop it." I begged but he didn't even look at me. His back was straight, his shoulders back and his face was defiant.

"And maybe you should stay out of things that don't involve you." My father snapped taking a step towards Sirius. "Stay away from my daughter. Am I making myself clear?"

"Crystal."

Dad finally turned his attention to me, his eyes softening a smidge as he did. "Get some rest, Jules. I'll see you soon." And with that he turned away from us all and stormed out of the infirmary.

I took a deep breath and climbed back onto my bed, my whole body suddenly seemed to be out of energy. "You didn't have to do that." I muttered, letting my head drop back onto my pillow.

"I know." Sirius visibly relaxed the second the door slammed shut behind my dad. He made his way away from James bed and moved closer to me, running his hand across the back of his neck as he did. "Sorry if I made it worse."

I waved him away with what little energy I had left, letting my hand drop down onto the bed afterwards. "He'll come around. He always does."

Sirius nodded as he looked down at me, his features riddled with guilt. "I just wanted to say," he spoke softly as he made his way to sit on my bed.

"Nope." I shook my head, pointing to the seat that was beside me. "There's a perfectly good chair there."

Laughter erupted from the bed beside me and I was suddenly more than aware of James' attention on us. He wasn't even bothering to divert his eyes from the two of us. I picked up my wand and silently cast a spell so that he wouldn't hear anything other than static.

"Oh, come on!" He cried, louder than necessary. "He's going to tell me everything anyway."

Sirius laughed as he shook his head from side to side. It was hard not to smile back at him when his face was so full of life. It was like in those moments you could forget about every problem and just appreciate that we are in fact children.

I stifled a yawn, covering my mouth with my hand. "Can we make this quick, please? I'm pretty beat." I turned my head to look at him, fatigue hitting me hard.

"I just wanted to say thanks." His hand ran across the back of his neck again; the only thing that showed his nerves. "After everything I put you through, you didn't even think about it. I wouldn't have blamed you for letting me get hit."

"And have to live with the guilt? No thanks." I flashed him a small smile, the biggest I could muster up. "Just don't make a habit of needing saving. I can't promise that I'll always be there."

Sirius snorted his laughter, his signature smirk on his face. "I wouldn't dream of it." His face dropped as his entire body went rigid. His hand was on his neck again and he was looking anywhere except in my direction. "I think I need to apologise. No, I do need to apologise."

"What for now?" I forced myself to sit up and look at Sirius, for all the use it did. He was staring at his foot, obviously ashamed of whatever he was thinking about.

"For how I treated you." He finally looked up at me, his eyes meeting mine. He let every emotion he was feeling show in those grey eyes and I felt every word of it.

I let out a small sigh and fought the urge to take him into my arms. "Are you ever going to tell me why or am I going to be left in the dark about it all?"

He cleared his throat, not taking his eyes off mine. "I don't have any excuse that will justify how I acted."

"Try."

"I shouldn't have led you on the way I did. It was so easy to get wrapped up in everything when I knew I wasn't going to see you again." He kept his voice soft as he finally began to explain everything. My heart sank at his words. "And then when I realised that wasn't the case I couldn't handle the fact you were here. I saw the way you looked at me and knew I needed to put distance between us."

I nodded at him. I didn't dare say anything in the chance that it would deter him. This was the realest he'd been all school year and I wasn't about to say anything that would prevent me getting answers.

"And then I had this internal struggle between needing to stay away from you and wanting to be around you all the time." He turned his eyes back to his feet. "So I tried making sure you wouldn't want to be around me. Not that it would have worked with our friends."

I let out a humourless laugh and shook my head in disbelief. "You acted like a dick to keep me away? Why not just tell me how it is?" I paused for a moment before looking back at him. "Oh wait, you did that, I even agreed with you, and that wasn't good enough for you?"

Anger bubbled up inside me at his pathetic excuse for treating me like crap. I pushed it down, not having the energy to fight any more. After the day we'd just had I knew I had to just let it slide for the time being. I didn't have the fight in me. All I wanted to do was lay my head down and go to sleep.

"Like I said, it doesn't justify anything but I am going to make it up to you." He promised, his body changing completely. He was suddenly the confident man that I'd met all those months ago. "I'll make you forget that I ever treated you like that."

"Okay." I said with another yawn. "Whilst you're at it, you can start by telling Marlene what actually happened between us. It'd be nice for her to stop thinking I slept with the guy who was meant to be her boyfriend."

"It'll be the first thing I do when we're done here." He leant forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I promise." He said with a nod.

I rested back in the bed and nodded back at Sirius. It was becoming hard to keep my eyes open and before I knew it Sirius was mumbling something I couldn't hear. Next thing I knew everything had gone black.

* * *

I suddenly was woken up by a very happy James Potter. The grin on his face was enough to put the Cheshire cat out of business. The room was bright and white, which told me it was definitely the following day. I looked around the room, counting the amount of beds with curtains drawn around them. Was that how many people all got seriously injured?

My attention snapped back to James when he threw a clean set of my clothes at me. "Get dressed. We're clear to leave." He started shoving one of his shoes on. "We don't want to miss breakfast."

"You're awfully chipper this morning." I said, putting on the best English accent I had in me.

"Why wouldn't I be?" James' grin seemed to grow even wider. "We're alive, we can get out in time for breakfast," he met my gaze, his eyes sparkling, "and a certain Miss Evans is finally talking to me."

"I should have known!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in mock shock. "Of course the lovely Lily has everything to do with your good mood!"

James got up and stood just inside my bed area. "Am I really that predictable?" He finished with a wink.

"Only when Lily's involved." I couldn't help but match his grin. His whole mood was intoxicating and I almost wanted to get up and cheer. It was crazy how just his mood was enough to start my day off in the best way. I was optimistic and excited about everyone finally getting along.

James pulled my curtain shut so that I could get changed into yet another one of my skater dresses and leather jacket.

"So, what did you do that finally convinced her that you might not be as bad as she thought?" I called out to him, quickly throwing on my shoes.

I could almost hear the smirk on James' face. "It was only a matter of time before she came to her senses."

"I wouldn't let her hear you saying that." I laughed with a scoff as I opened the curtain . "She might change her mind. So go on then, what actually happened?"

I don't think I'd ever seen James in such a good mood. It was as though he was vibrating with happiness. His hazel eyes sparkled brightly, the grin on his face didn't waver in the slightest. "I guess getting myself injured whilst fighting beside her did the trick. She came and bought us some dinner last night." He gestured to the to empty plates on the side of his bed. "I guess the elves haven't been yet."

"That's great." I found myself beaming up at his overjoyed expression. "I swear you're happier about Lily talking to you than you were about going on a date."

James shrugged and threw his bag over his shoulder. "I guess it's just time I started facing reality. My advances haven't worked up until now, I doubt it'll change anytime soon."

"Mmhmm." I hummed, a small smile playing on my lips.

James raised an eyebrow at me causing a giggle to slip out of my mouth. "What?" He asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." I feigned innocence. It wasn't down to me to tell him about Lily's obvious annoyance about the date or lack of contact they'd been having and I doubt she'd be happy about me filling him in. Besides, must have been blind to not see it, especially as his attention always seemed to gravitate towards her. "Come on. Breakfast isn't going to eat itself."

The two of us walked to the great hall, making small talk about Quidditch and the upcoming match and the DADA essay that was due. By the time we got to the hall, the rest of the group were all sat together, demolishing the breakfast spread.

I automatically made my way towards Lily and Alice, taking my usual spot between them.

"Thank the stars!" Sirius exclaimed loudly as James took the seat next to him. "I was starting to think I'd be stuck with this lot forever!" He smacked James on the back, winking in Remus' direction.

"I missed you too Padfoot." James retorted as he stole a sausage off Sirius' plate.

I shook my head at them as I grabbed myself a slice of toast before smothering it in pâté.

"Don't leave me like that again." Sirius jested. "I don't know what I'll do if I ever have to go that long without you."

"Are you sure you're alright to be out today?" Lily turned to me, forgetting about her breakfast, her face full of worry.

"I am fine!" I smiled at her, stretching my arms around to show my ribs were fine. "Good as new."

"Stop worrying, Lily." Remus grinned at us. "Madam Pomfrey wouldn't have let her out if she wasn't fine."

"He'd know with the amount of time he's spent in there." Peter spoke more to himself than to anyone else but nonetheless Sirius threw a sausage hitting him directly in the forehead.

I looked between them, the stern look from Sirius not going amiss. The four of them seemed to be having some sort of silent conversation, as though they could read exactly what each other were thinking.

As though he was aware of people acknowledging the exchange Remus turned back to Lily and myself. "It's good to see you up and about. You gave us quite a scare, passing out once you'd apparated."

"Yeah, luckily Madam Pomfrey was waiting there with us." Alice smiled at us, obviously pleased to have me and James back. "I don't think anyone got seriously hurt."

"A couple of people are off for psychological trauma." Sirius interjected. "They should all be okay with a bit of time though."

"Thank Merlin." I felt some of the tension leave my body at the news. "Do we know anything about why they did it?"

"They won't tell us anything if they know." Alice shrugged as she stabbed some food onto her fork. "But I reckon it's to scare us. To keep us reminded that we're not safe."

My stomach tied itself in a knot at the thought. They decided to attack a village full of school children just to scare us? It's not right. Innocent children, innocent people. All innocent except that they might not be pure-blood.

I looked behind me, letting my eyes fall upon the Slytherin table. All of them were acting as though nothing had happened. As I scanned the table I couldn't help but wonder how many of them were actually involved with it. If any of them hand used unforgivable curses on people. If Regulus had.

"If I can have your attention!" Dumbledore's voice boomed over the hall. The talking fizzled out as everyone turned their attention to him. "Due to recent events, your professors and I have decided that it would be a good idea to set up a duelling club for those looking to improve their ability to defend themselves. You will learn more advanced defensive magic, magic that would come in handy should anything like that happen again."

Students started muttering excitedly under their breaths at the prospect of learning more advanced duelling techniques, the lower years visibly more excited.

"You have until Wednesday to sign up, ready to start after lessons on Friday." Dumbledore was standing at the front of the hall, his bright eyes scanning across the whole room. "What you learn is not to be used on one another, but to only be used in if absolutely necessary. The world is changing out there, and you're going to need to be prepared for when you go back out there."

Dumbledore finished up his speech, his voice projecting over everyone's whispers. It was agreed before the words even came out of anyones mouths. We were signing up.


	16. Duelling Club

**A/N: I am so sorry you beautiful people! I have had the worst couple of weeks and found myself getting side tracked a lot. Everything should be fine for those who have asked, and I am hopefully back on track for updating every Wednesday morning.**

 **I'd just like to say welcome - to all you newcomers, thank you - to all you amazing reviewers. You guys are amazing! So there's a month time gap between this chapter and the last, ready for the Christmas holidays to start soon. And loads of action during those chapters!**

 **Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you for your words of support, messages, reviews, ect. It's been amazing to hear that this is some of your favourite Sirius story! I hope you enjoy this one as much as you've enjoyed the rest.**

 **Much love xx**

November came and went and before we knew it December was bringing with it the worst weather it could have brought. Snow. Horrible, cold, wet snow. And with the snow, everyone seemed to revert back to being five years old. They lost all respect for everybody, and anyone became target practice. It didn't matter their ages, they all acted the same.

The school grounds were full of snowballs being thrown back and forth, snowmen scattered around that people had spent hours making. Any free moment the other students seemed to get was spent in the same way. Outside in the awful weather, doing everything in their power to make the most out of the snow before it disappeared.

I don't know why I didn't like it. Maybe part of the reason was that I'd never actually seen it before I went to Ilvermorny; and even then it was way too cold on the mountain for me to even think about spending my time outside of the building. That, and the fact I don't think I had ever seen snow back home, ever. It snowed in Miami once that I knew of, and I wasn't even there for it. If it wasn't for the fact that everyone was already out in it, I wouldn't have even contemplated the idea of stepping foot out of the warmth.

As I walked across the school grounds I couldn't stop myself from focussing on the noise the snow was making. It was crunching beneath my feet in the most satisfying way, my feet creating indents in the compressed snow as I walked. I found myself veering towards the fresh, untouched snow; the urge to disrupt it winning over.

I tugged my thick winter cloak tighter around myself, missing the sun and heat I was much more accustomed to. As I got within throwing range of my group of friends I seemed to turn into a walking target. Every single one of them seemed to turn their sights onto me, launching snowballs with surprisingly good aim directly at me. The first snowball that hit me landed straight in my face, drawing out a shocked shreak out of me; much to the amusement of everyone else.

Without a second thought I yanked my wand out of my robes and sent one of the snowballs back to the first person it came into contact with. Satisfaction surged through me as I watched James splutter, wiping snow off of his face.

"Hey!" He shouted in mock annoyance. "No magic! It's cheating!"

"And so is ganging up on an unsuspecting victim!" I retorted with a laugh as another snowball landed on my chest.

"Those rules don't count when there's snow!" Remus shouted as he dropped an armful of snow over James' head.

"That's it!" James turned around and ran at Remus, knocking both of them into a heap in the snow. The pair laughed loudly as they proceeded to roll around, wrestling in the snow.

I made my way to Lily, giggling at the boys as Sirius jumped on top of the pile. She grinned at me as she bent down to roll a snowball, her grin turning into a slight smirk. "You too." I cried as I quickly ducked down to make my own weapon. "Don't make me get involved in your shinanigans."

"I've seen you throw. I have nothing to worry about." She laughed as she lobbed the frozen ball at me.

Much to my chagrin her aim was spot on, clipping the top of my shoulder to spray in my face. I shook the specks of snow causing it to fling out in all directions around me. Without any hesitation I launched my own snowball at her, my rubbish aim meaning I barely caught her leg.

"I don't get it. Why would you want to throw this awful stuff at each other?" I grimaced as I covered my mouth and nose with my scarf. "It's so cold and wet!"

"That's kinda the point." Alice giggled at me. "If you're good, you won't get hit."

My teeth chattered against one another as the harsh wind blew. "If I was any good I would have been out here with you an hour ago." I laughed through the chills, rubbing my hands up and down my arms to warm them up. "What was it you wanted anyway?"

Lily dropped her snowball and came to meet me, her face taking on a less mischievous air. "James and I can't make it to duelling club tonight. We have a meeting with Professor McGonagall."

"Okay." I dragged the word out, trying to figure out where Lily was going with this. Surely it didn't matter too much whether her and James could be there. It was going to be busy enough that no one would notice, or it had every other week so far.

"Professor Jacobs asked us to find people to help out to replace us." Lily had a warm smile on her face and she didn't have to say anything for me to know what she was going to ask. "You probably have the best training out of any of us."

I flashed her a small giggle and shook my head left to right. "So you figured I'm the best person for the job?"

"Something like that." Lily's laughed chimed through the air. She tucked her hair behind and glanced towards the boys who were still rolling around on the floor, all four of them were entirely white. She quickly moved her eyes back onto me, obviously not wanting anyone to notice the slight change in her attention. "You up for it?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything for you."

Lily jumped to me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and giving me a small squeeze. "Thanks. You and Sirius will have to be there early, and we all know what he's like so that'll be down to you."` She quickly let me go and started walking away, a small smirk on her face.

I could tell by Lily's giggle that it was more than obvious that my face had dropped. It wasn't that Sirius and I weren't talking, because we really had managed to get past all that rubbish and drama, somehow. We just didn't spend time with each other without anyone else, but there was a friendliness between us that wasn't there before; an understanding between us that made all the awkwardness of before disappear.

Forcing a smile onto my face to cover how I was feeling I nodded at my red-headed friend. "Sure, you got it." I said enthusiastically despite the knot that was suddenly in my stomach. "I'm gonna head back to the common room. I will turn into a block of ice if I stay out here much longer."

"See you at dinner." She beamed just as James got away from the other boys and ran to use her as a human shield.

I couldn't help but watch as the two laughed with one another, finally able to spend time with each other without killing each other. We still never found out what it was that made Lily go a bit easier on him, but whatever had happened they finally both seemed so much happier. James never did go on the date he had planned, and Lily seemed nothing but happy about the fact.

Lily laughed as she tried to duck away from James' grasp whilst Sirius and Remus stalked towards the pair, clearly not worried about accidentally getting Lily. Sirius turned his gaze to me, catching my eye and flashing me a cheeky grin. He changed his course slightly, obviously decided that I was a better victim than Lily and James.

"Don't." I warned him as I back away, my finger pointed at him in protest.

Before I knew it Sirius was running at me, stopping only to pick me up and throw me over his shoulder. His barking laugh seemed to echo across the space, my fighting against him only seemed to make it worse.

"I promise you, you will regret whatever you're going to do!" I punched his back which did nothing to deter him. "Put! Me! Down!"

"As you wish." I could hear the smirk on his face and I knew it wasn't going to be a simple as putting me back on my feet. He continued walking, not taking any notice of my flailing arms and legs.

I threw one last punch before I got unceremoniously dumped into a pile of snow. If I thought I was cold before it was nothing in comparison to what I felt then. Not only was it cold, but the snow quickly drenched through my clothes.

I jumped up to come face to face with a very smug looking Sirius, laughing loudly with our friends. "Considering the last time I had to get you back for something, did you really think that was a good idea? Sleep with one eye open tonight, Black." I warned before turning around and walking away from him.

As I headed back to the castle, my eyes scanned across the different groups of children. Every single one of them was laughing, their eyes alight with joy. It was only when they landed on a single figure heading away from the throngs of students, and directly into the forbidden forest.

I didn't have to see his face to know who it was and where he was going. It had been a while since I'd seen him anywhere near there so did the only thing I could think of doing. I changed direction, making a beeline for the trees he had just entered.

It didn't take me long to catch up to him, just as he was drying up an area of snow so that he could sit down.

" I haven't seen you here in a while." I called out to him as I got closer.

He jumped slightly, his whole body tensing at the sound of my voice. As he sat down he lifted his eyes up to me. They were lacking any emotion, like he was cutting himself off. "Yeah, I've been busy."

"For a month?" I raised an eyebrow at him as I sat down beside him, making sure to put some space between us. It was more than clear that he was uncomfortable. It was as though he had reverted back to when we first met. He was back to being distant all of a sudden.

"It's just better this way." His voice was quiet, as though he didn't trust himself to talk. He turned his gaze from me, glancing up at the snow drifting down above us.

"Why?"

Regulus took a deep breath. "You've already put yourself on their radar. Getting involved like that at Hogsmeade. They saw you with your dad so they pretty much think you're a blood traitor. They'll try and use you to get to him." He finally looked back at me, worry etching his features. "If they saw us together it would only make them more aware of you."

I scoffed and shook my head at him, fiddling with a strand of my hair. "They were always going to find out about my family with my dad's job. They're not stupid."

"But it's best we don't make anything potentially worse." His face softened as his voice grew in confidence. "You've already been hurt once. I'd rather it not happen again."

"If it's going to happen there's nothing you can do to stop it." I sighed, sat up on me knees and turned to face him. "Look at my friends. It was only a matter of time before one of your friends tried it anyway. Besides, I'm not some weak, defenceless little girl."

"I'm not saying you are, but I'm not going to be a reason that you do get hurt." His hand subconsciously started rubbing where his mark was. It was as though it felt uncomfortable on his arm. "If they knew we were friends it'd get higher up and they'd try to make me use you to get to your dad."

"So, they don't have to know."

Regulus rested his head back against the tree, his shoulders finally releasing some of the tension they were holding. "Just continue meeting up in secret?"

"Why not? It would be no different to what we're used to." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"We're both heading down very different paths, Juliet." He furrowed his eyebrows before running his hand along his mark. "There's things that I've done..." He trailed off, not finishing what he was going to say.

"But you've also done things you didn't have to do. You tried to warn me about what was going to happen in Hogsmeade. And you sure as heck didn't have to attack one of your people for me." I shook my head in disbelief at the boy. He really was struggling with this whole thing. "You've never done anything to wrong me so why wouldn't I want you around. And if that means we have to keep it quiet then so be it."

Regulus looked at me, the small smile I'd grown fond of was slowly appearing on his face. "You don't care about what I am?"

"I don't believe you'd ever do anything to hurt me." I returned his smile with one twice as big. "And because of that I have hope about getting you out of there."

His smile turned sad as he looked down at me. "It really isn't as simple as that. I can't just back out now. It's too late. If I try to get out now, either The Dark Lord will kill me or my parents will. This is my only chance of survival now."

"Just because you won't try and find a way, doesn't mean I won't." I gave him a small punch on the shoulder before standing up. "I'm not giving up on you yet, Regulus. Whether you like it or not." I turned and walked away without another word, heading straight up to the common room to sit by the fire.

* * *

I was pleasantly surprised to find Sirius ready and waiting early enough for us to get to the duelling club on time. Punctuality wasn't really one of his best traits. Everyone knew it.

"Wow." I gasped in mock surprise as I walked up to him. "I was starting to think you'd forgotten what it meant to be on time."

Sirius scoffed, his shoulders shrugging slightly as he did. "It's not often that I get to be the boss of this many people. There's no way I was going to be late for that. Imagine the look on dear old Snivellus' face."

I shook my head at him as we started making our way to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. Our feet quickly fell in sync with each other as Sirius patched his pace to mine. It was slightly awkward as we walked, neither of us seemed to know what to say to one another.

Sirius ran his hand across the back of his neck. "Do you have much planned over the Christmas holidays?"

I laughed at his attempt of small talk, letting my eyes scan the different portraits as we walked. They were never the same. You could always count on someone to be missing, or everyone cramming in other peoples paintings. I looked towards Sirius and realised he was looking at me, waiting for me to answer. "Oh. Joe is coming to stay. Which will be great. We've never gone this long without seeing each other before."

"How'd you meet him?" He seemed sincere, his eyes trained on the direction we were walking in.

I couldn't stop the smile from forming on my lips. "Our moms were in the hospital together when we were born and ended up keeping in contact. We grew up together, were basically inseperable our who lives. Our families have always been close."

My heart swelled as I thought my second family that were the reasons for some of my best memories.

"Sounds nice." A sad smile appeared on Sirius' face. "Reg and I used to be like that once. A very long time ago."

"I know." I returned his smile, feeling the sadness radiating from him as he thought about his estranged relationship with his brother. "He does miss you, you know? He won't admit it, but he gets that same look in his eyes from time to time."

"It's been over for us for a long time now. We've both accepted how it's going to be." We turned a corner, almost at the classroom.

I frowned, my eyebrows furrowing as I turned to look at him. "What is it about you two?" I threw my hands in the air. "You seem to have given up on each other. That's not what brothers do. Why are you both so adamant that it has to be this way?"

"It's complicated, Jules. We don't have time to get into it now." As if on cue we arrived at the classroom, making our way to Professor Jacobs.

He turned to face us, a smile appearing on his as his blue eyes settled on us. "Ahh. Miss Bryce, Mister Black. I wasn't sure if they could persuade someone to do this in time."

"Oh, you know me, Sir. Always looking to help the teaching faculty out." He had an arrogant grin on his face but Professor Jacobs laughed at it none the less.

"I'm sure that's true." He raised his eyebrow at Sirius, who chuckled loudly. "Right, so let's get down to business. Today, you're both going to give us a demonstration, and I know it's going to be a show. From what I've been told the pair of you know how to hold your own.

"This is what I've been waiting for all year." I laughed as I put my hair up into a ponytail.

"I don't know what you're getting excited about. You're going to get your arse handed to you on a silver platter." Sirius promised with a wink.

Professor Jacobs just laughed at us before heading back towards his desk. "That's what I like to hear. So, after that, we'll let the others pair up and practice. We'll go round and give people tips on what they could do better. If we let them know the areas they're weak in they can improve on them."

"Got it, Sir." I nodded as I took my thick cloak off. If I knew Sirius as well as I thought I did, he wasn't about to roll over and let me beat him in front of this many people. His ego was too big. I was going to have to work to win this one, and I sure as heck wasn't about to let Sirius Black get one up on me.

In next to no time, the first lot of students started making their way into the classroom. The excitement was apparent on their faces, as it had been in all the previous sessions.

Before I knew it I was standing on a stage, face to face with Sirius. There must have been at least forty students all staring up at us. I wasn't sure how this many of us were going to be able to duel all at once in a room of this size. I rubbed my sweaty wand hand on my robes to dry it off. I wasn't sure why I was even getting nervous, it's not like I wasn't going to give a good fight.

"Ready." Professor Jacobs announced, silencing the whole room as they trained their whole attention onto us. We both bowed to each other, before quickly linking our eyes back together the moment we returned to an offensive stance. "Duel!"

Sirius didn't miss a beat, silently sending a stunning spell in my direction. He was cocky, too sure of himself. I could tell by the way he presented himself that there was a very large chance he'd never lost a duel before; but there was easily a chance to change that.

Without even blinking I threw a shield up, blocking it with plenty of time to send on straight back at him. As expected it wasn't going to be that easy to get a hit on him and he threw himself out of the way rather than blocking it. The only way I was going to win this was to be quicker than him, or for him to tire first. And I doubted the latter was going to happen.

We went too and fro for a while. Each of us trying a variation of different spells to get one up on each other but neither of us were getting close.

"You alright over there?" I taunted, my lips tasted salty as I spoke. "You're getting sloppy."

"You must be confused." Sirius' voice was slightly breathy from the duel. "I'm barely breaking a sweat."

I must have missed a beat because next thing I knew I was hit square in the chest with a spell. I went flying backwards, wincing as my back hit the wooden floor. The pain lasted a second before it seemed to disappear. My eyes landed on Sirius who had suddenly gotten too confident. He thought this was it.

With a flick of my wand I locked Sirius' legs. It had come as a surprise to him and he fell to the floor, causing laughter to erupt throughout the hall. He disarmed me quciker than I could block and he managed to unlock his legs and stand up as my eyes landed on my wand.

The huge smirk on his face was all I needed to see. He'd thought he'd won. I stayed on the ground, concentrating on my wand I used the only wandless magic I had managed to teach myself. My wand was in my hand in no less than four seconds and I disarmed Sirius, catching his wand in my hand before shouting my final spell.

"Levicorpus!"

Beads of sweat dripped down my face as I pushed myself up, grinning at Sirius, who was hanging upside down from his ankle. His robes were hanging past his head, yet all you could hear was his barking laugh. Professor Jacobs was quick to brandish his wand, getting Sirius down from the position with a hard drop to the floor.

Once he'd pulled himself up the grin on his face was huge much to my surprise. He bawled over to me and cracked me on the shoulder. "I thought I had you for a moment there."

"I know. You dropped your defence." I held my hand out for him to shake it. "You got way too sure of yourself." I shrugged as he placed his hand in mine. His grip was soft, yet firm as he shook it twice. Electricty ran through his hand to mine, causing my heart to speed up, crashing wildly against my chest. I internally scolded myself for still letting him have this effect on me.

"I'll get another chance." He laughed as he dropped my hand. "You may have one this battle, but you haven't won the war."

I rolled my eyes and laughed at him, relieved at the distance put between us. The further apart we got, the less I could feel the energy between us. It was like a was hyper aware of him whenever he was in close contact.

Professor Jacobs wasted no time in getting all the rest of the students in pairs to start duelling so the three of us could split up and help the others as much as we could. Within the rest of the hour it was clear to see some major improvements already. By the time we would be going home for the holidays, most people should be able to at least defend themselves a lot better than they could before.

I came upon two Hufflepuff boys from my year, One of them was pretty good, where the other one was a little clumsy.

The one who wasn't so great was only a few inches taller than me but he was stocky, well-built. His I stopped beside them with a little giggle. "You need to relax more. And rather than putting most of your weight on your back foot, put it on your front."

"Like this?" The boy said, flashing me a sweet smile as he changed his stance.

"Perfect." I grinned at him, watching his face mirror mine. "You'll find it much more effective this way."

"You were pretty good up there." His dark brown eyes bore into my own, the smile on his face making them light up. "I never thought I'd see the day where someone would out-duel Sirius Black."

I smiled up at him, my cheeks heating up slightly at the compliment. "It wasn't easier, but obviously the better woman won."

"So we can see." The boy had deep dimples every time he smiled, and freckles scattered across his nose. "I'm Alexander." He held his hand out for me to take. "It's Juliet, right?" He punctuated his statement by pressing his lips softly against the back of my hand.

My cheeks seemed to burn up even more as I looked down at the floor. "Yeah, that's right." I looked up at him through my eyelashes. As my eyes locked onto his butterflies seemed to erupt in my stomach, my hands going clammy.

"I know this is going to be very forward, but do you have anything planned for the next Hogsmeade trip next weekend?" His voice was full of confidence, yet not a single drop of cockiness or arrogance could be seen.

"No I don't." I popped my thumb in my mouth, nibbling on the end to try and hide the big grin on my face.

"So what would you say about coming with me? We can get to know each other a bit." He took a small step closer to me, his smile reassuring.

I returned his smile before agreeing to the date, suddenly finding myself unable to stop smiling. Deep down I could feel myself hoping that this would be the start of me moving on. The prospect of going on a first date sent my nerves into overdrive. Every time I thought about it butterflies erupted in my stomach.

For the rest of the night it was as though I was walking around with a coat hanger in my mouth. I was the first to go to bed that night, fed up of all the questions that were getting thrown my way. I'd tell the girls when they went to bed but I wasn't about to tell them in front of the boys.

I sat in my bed, reading the no-maj book Lily had on her dresser whilst I waited for her and Alice to come to bed. It felt like I was waiting for hours, and I was yet to even hear a peep out of them by the time I was asleep.


End file.
